CHARITON, Iowa — Bent and broken trees are still visible in Lucas County two years after a tornado outbreak on March 5, 2022.
"As I was walking back to the kitchen, I could hear a whirling noise — very faint, very light," recalled Rod Bortz, a longtime Chariton resident who lost his home when an EF-3 touched down that day just south of town.
He and his wife, Gayle, were on their way home from a trip to Cedar Rapids when the outlook for an immediate severe weather threat became clearer.
Just minutes before the storm reached their home, they parked their car in the garage and headed to the basement for shelter.
In what Rod describes as "eight seconds or less", their home of 30 years had been heavily damaged.
The roof had been ripped from the top of the home, their garage had been dismantled and there was debris in just about every place imaginable.
"We weren't even thinking. We were pretty much shocked," Gayle said. "We look out every day and we see it. Sometimes it's difficult. Other days, it's not so bad."
During their toughest hour, Chariton showed up to help.
Neighbors, friends, family members, and even strangers came to assist Rod and Gayle as they began to process what had happened.
Clean-up started immediately.
"People just started coming," Gayle said. "You see it, when disaster strikes. You see the impact of what you have given to your community come back to you."
Months later, Rod and Gayle began to break ground on a new home.
They didn't move, however.
Their new house stands on the same plot of land but is angled differently now so they can catch Iowa's beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
"I don't think we would've ever moved away from here," Gayle said.
The traumatic experience not only shifted their way of life, but also shifted their perspective on life, saying they were lucky to be alive.
"You think it's the end, but it's just the start of a new beginning."
The EF-3 tornado in Chariton was one of ten different tornadoes to hit central and southern Iowa on March 5, 2022.
Three supercell storms moved through the state, producing multiple tornadoes along their path.
According to the National Weather Service in Des Moines, the Chariton tornado stayed on the ground for more than 11 miles in Lucas County and lasted a full 20 minutes.
It developed as a previous tornado weakened near Derby, Iowa.
The new twister tracked just south of Chariton, and directly hit Rod and Gayle Bortz's neighborhood, and then impacted Red Haw State Park.
Other notable tornadoes from March 5, 2022, include an EF-4 tornado that heavily damaged communities around Winterset, an EF-2 tornado that touched down near Allerton and Corydon in Wayne County, and another EF-2 tornado that affected an area near Kellogg, in Jasper, Poweshiek and Tama Counties.
Seven people were killed in Iowa during the severe weather that day.
Six of those were in Madison County. One was in Lucas County at Red Haw State Park.