University of Iowa Alpha Chi Omega house damaged by tornado
 

At the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house, 828 E. Washington St., 29 women were in the house when the storm hit. The east wall of the house was completely destroyed and its roof torn off, said house mother Claudia Streeter. Cars littered the ravine to the west of the house, and the numerous decks, which residents reported had been the site of a nonalcoholic social only hours earlier, were destroyed.

Shortly after the winds came through, Streeter reported a firefighter told the women to remain in the basement unless they smelled gas. After 20 minutes passed, they did began to smell gas and decided to evacuate - some number of them without shoes.

Firefighters with oxygen tanks searched the Alpha Chi house for injured, but most of the sorority sisters were taken to the Iowa City police station, said UI senior and Alpha Chi member Erika Fabisch.


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Here's a photo from the Press-Citizen of the Alpha Chi House
If you scroll through the photos, there are some more of the damage at Alpha Chi.

The storm that went through Iowa City last night was brutal. So many homes and business were damaged. The University cancelled classes for today, as did many local schools.

I talked to our house director last night after the storm had passed because the Kappa house is less than two blocks away from the Alpha Chi house. Luckily, we sustained only minor structural damage to the west side of the house. Everyone is safe and no one was hurt.

They just showd the Chi Omega house on Good Morning America and it looked like a bomb went off.

I didn't hear this, but I hope no one in Iowa City lost their life.

That was the Alpha Chi house, not the Chi Omega house.

They interviewed a few sisters, too. This is so sad :(

Last night was absolutely unreal. Three tornadoes touched down between Wal-Mart and Menard's, and all went in separate directions. I believe one of them was destined towards me as I narrowly escaped it's path by a matter of seconds. The Dairy Queen was not as fortunate. I may have been one of the last people to actually see that building still standing. The whole town is shook up. Reports indicate that only 1 person lost their life due to the tornadoes in eastern Iowa.

I was at that non-alc earlier on Thursday. It truly was a great house, and an absolutely amazing four-story deck.

There's an article on CNN.com com that references the Alpha Chi Omega house and the young woman who huddled in the phone booth while the house was destroyed around her. Thank God the 29 women in that house were safe....

The house has 46 or 47 live-ins, and is across the street from PiPhi and two doors down from Kappa. I am going to head down there to see if I can provide any form of assistance.

i am just heartbroken by these pictures. hopefully these women can finish out the semester somewhere safe.

http://cmsimg.press-citizen.com/apps...em=17&Maxw=465

http://cmsimg.press-citizen.com/apps...em=18&Maxw=465

http://media.collegepublisher.com/me...s/kutwrk44.jpg

It is like a complete war zone. The Kappa house had a gas leak, and some windows blown out. But the AXO house received the worst damage I have seen in Iowa City. The roof is basically completely gone. Everyone in the house is doing alright. One girl stepped on a nail as they were leaving the house, but she is alright now.

those poor girls! I'll keep them in my thoughts...

Do you know if they were able to salvage any of their chapter's "stuff" such as composites, scrapbooks, ritual and any other chapter paraphernalia?

I saw some Pix and am so glad from the devisataion that none were hurt or killed.

Wow, it has to be scarry for sure for these Ladys and what they went through.

Life is living, a Building is just a building!

I hope they can get back up to speed with a bigger and better facility in the near future!

AXO Sisters...
 

I have contacted my regional coordinator & encourage you guys to do the same (just call HQ if you aren't sure whom to contact) -- let's find out what we can do to help these girls get back on their feet. This is terrible but thank goodness all the sisters were safe.

I'm so glad the girls are okay. The house is trashed. What is important is that none of the girls died. Composites, ritual stuff can be replaced, a life cannot.

Re: AXO Sisters...
 

The Alpha Chi Omega national web site has a fairly brief notice that says, among other things, "There are over 100 chapter members, all of whom are accounted for and safe. Marsha Grady, Alpha Chi Omega National Vice President and Cindy Parker of the local house corporation are on site and are securing temporary housing for the members through the end of the school term."

Good to know that everyone's OK, but I'm sure there'll be tons of things the chapter members will need. Best wishes to them in this difficult time.