Mariah Wood

lifeguard

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“I’ve learned that you have to trust your gut instincts and know when God is speaking to you and through you in situations.”

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Sixteen-year-old Mariah Wood watched over seven children at the Wadena outdoor pool with fellow lifeguards, Emily Fuhrman, Neil Janson, Keeley Timm and Hannah Toedter. Trusting instinct over protocol, one snap decision may have saved them all.

Take us through the moments before the tornado.
A mother came to the pool and said we were under a tornado warning. We blew the whistles, got the kids out and called everyone’s parents to come and get them. The evacuation spot was the maintenance building outside. I didn’t feel comfortable going there, and I knew my house was right across the street. I could hear it raining, and then we heard the sirens go off. I called my mom and told her there were seven of us crammed in this little closet and it didn’t feel safe. We locked up the building and ran to my house.

By the time we got to my yard, we were drenched and the sky had this eerie green to it. I dropped my stuff at the front door, and we ran downstairs. The power went out, and the phone went dead. My mom came over to us, held a blanket over the girls and covered them with her body. Our ears were popping, and we just heard this big loud roaring around us. My mom was yelling and praying.

What was the scene outside?
It was really still, but we saw this light shining down the steps. My mom walked over and went up the stairs. We had an attached garage and it had been just taken away. We ran up there and looked at the school. The community center roof was on top of it. The maintenance building was like a pile of LEGOs. If we had gone there like we were supposed to, we wouldn't have made it out.

How has this experience changed you?
I’ve learned that you have to trust your gut instincts and know when God is speaking to you and through you in situations. I wasn’t supposed to work that day, and nobody else’s house is as close as mine. I don’t know where they would have gone. I’ve also learned to be grateful for what I have. Our lives can’t be replaced. 

Fr. Donald Wagner

st. ann's catholic church

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“You can’t offer everything. Recognize what you can offer and do it.”

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Wagner turned St. Ann’s Catholic Church into a command central for emergency responders—including the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army and emergency medical technicians, and leaders from other churches— all the while driving back and forth from the hospital to support people who were hurt in the tornado. Throughout, he continued to minister to the traumastricken members of his two parish communities—St. Ann’s in Wadena and St. John the Baptist in Bluffton— while keeping up with his normal workload of preparing homilies, counseling engaged couples and hosting a funeral and funeral luncheon that temporarily displaced the emergency crews who occupied the building.

What did the tornado teach you about yourself?
You can’t offer everything. Recognize what you can offer and do it. I realized in my position, I was really needed most to do my role in the hospital where I prayed with the injured. I needed to be available for counseling and I needed to be available to minister to people rather than working hands-on at a particular home.

How did you get through those days?
I went to a diocesan gathering of priests and was able to get the support of the brother priests. And I received emails from family and friends that were very uplifting. One lady emailed and said, “This morning when I went to mass I prayed for St. Ann’s, the community and you. You probably don’t know who I am, but I saw it on the news and felt like you might need to hear from people.” Those grace moments really help you out when you are exhausted.

One unforgettable moment . . .
I went out to my Bluffton parish, St. John the Baptist. On the way, I stopped at a farm of a parishioner and I couldn’t even recognize that it was their place because it was so obliterated. I turned into the driveway and some of the kids had posted a sign on a tree that’d had the bark stripped off in the tornado. The sign said, “God bless this mess.”

Unified Command Team

wadena

TEAM PLAYERS: (Left to right) Mike Carr Jr., Wadena County Sheriff; Dean Uselman, City of Wadena Fire Chief; Bill Cross, Wadena County Chief Deputy; Tom Crawford, City of Wadena Police Department Sergeant; Bruce Uselman, City of Wadena Police Department Chief

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“Sometimes we literally held each other up as someone would go into shock.”

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From the earliest sign that a storm was on the way, first responders and officers from all over Wadena and Otter Tail Counties sprang into action. Their efforts were successful in no small part to Wadena’s unified command team, who not only sounded the first alarm, but also coordinated with other community leaders to make sure people were getting the help they needed.

Police Chief Bruce Uselman talked to IQ about the crucial role teamwork played before, during and after the tornado.

When did you realize the situation was serious?
By 2 or 3 p.m., the weather spotters were out. The National Weather Service was getting reports of a tornado spotted eight miles west of Wadena, then southwest. At 5 p.m. the sirens were blowing in Wadena. West of town I could see the debris flying through the air. Power lines down, trees blocking the streets, insulation every place, people out on their front lawns in shock. First responders and officers began responding immediately from their homes. We had officers not knowing if their own homes were destroyed, officers who became sick [from the stress and working conditions]. Some weren’t able to function.

What’s your advice for other emergency responders?
Develop and maintain your relationships with your counterparts. Know your emergency action plan. If you work well together in a small incident, you’ll work well together in a major incident. We value each other more in local government now. We’ve developed those relationships and the community as a whole responded and got to know one another, too. We didn’t do it alone. We had help from across the state, including 38 fire departments and 46 law enforcement agencies. Each day, 300 volunteers came to offer their services.

How did you support each other?
Sometimes we literally held each other up as someone would go into shock. We needed that regardless of how strong we were. We began to recognize when and how to give people breaks. As we dealt with emergencies, we tried to stay a step ahead and anticipate what the next problem might be. You tap into all those years of experience of responding.