On May 25, 2008 an EF-5 tornado (winds above 200 miles per hour and classified as total destruction of any infrastructure) cut through Parkersburg, IA leveling the southern half of the town. 288 homes were destroyed and the roof was torn off the high school. This was the second worst tornado in Iowa since 1950 when official record keeping began. One year later the community is busy rebuilding and the town seems almost complete, although I thought it seemed sort of eerie with the absence of full-grown trees.