Caileane Thurston
Editor-in-Chief
In the surrounding areas of Newton, Halstead and Butler County, a rise of a tornado warned-storm with severe and high winds passed through on the night of Sunday, May 19. This unleashed chaos and destruction. Many residents woke up to scenes of devastation as the storm wreaked havoc on homes, businesses and infrastructure. Reports indicate that strong winds, heavy rainfall and lightning strikes were the main culprits behind the widespread damage. Trees were uprooted, power lines were knocked down, and some structures suffered significant structural damage. Schools got closed in Newton, many streets were blocked by trees, houses were even flooded and cars totaled.
Ann Pomeroy from Newton heard about the storm approaching Newton after her dad arrived back from his trip out of state. He asked for help moving things back inside the house because when he was driving, he saw the storm quickly approaching. Pomeroy and her family then quickly took shelter.
“During the storm, after the tornado alarm sounded my family and I took shelter in our basement,” Pomeroy said. “We brought our two dogs and our cat down with us. We had flashlights with us in preparation for the power to go out.”
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There were many trees down, but nothing major to her family’s property besides the power being out for multiple days. They lost power, which was yet to be restored as of Tuesday midday. Emergency services acted quickly in order to ensure safety of the town, making sure roads were properly closed off and began to repair power lines.The south side of Newton was more affected than the north side. North Newton did not have much damage at all where many trees had fallen on the south side of Newton. The community came together by making sure limbs could properly be put on the curb, many people taking to social media platforms such as Meta to ensure their neighbors were taken care of.
“Lots of information was shared on social media to help the community,” Pomeroy said. “I’ve seen many crews out making sure maintenance was properly carried out. I think my family was well prepared, to the best of our ability for this storm, but I am sure there are always better precautions and lessons that could be learned for future severe weather events.”
Alyssa Hamm from Newton also heard about the storm approaching Newton. Her experience that night was very traumatic for her. She was just watching TV and would jump to the news every now and then because her and her family heard about the storm. Then the sirens went off and her and her mom went to check outside to see what was going on.
“We were talking to our neighbors, and all of a sudden the sky started to turn green and then the sky went straight black,” Hamm said. “We hopped in my car to go to my mom’s boyfriends house for safety since we don’t have a basement. We grabbed my cat and all of a sudden, a huge thing smashed through my car windshield with all of us in the car. Glass went everywhere and we were all screaming in pure horror.”
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Hamm and her mom then quickly ran inside her house into her cellar and prayed to God that it would not break the windows in there. Minutes later, the storm was over, and she went to go check on her car and it was totaled, water and glass was everywhere. She then saw that the thing that went through her windshield was her neighbor’s chimney from the roof. Trees and people inquired if she and her mother were okay. There were many damages to her car, garage and two power lines were down and didn’t get power until four days later, but still has no cable/internet. Hamm learned that storms should be taken more seriously and anything can happen.
“After the storm, my neighbors asked if we were ok and offered to help us gather stuff and out the house since it was not safe and we had no power,” Hamm said. “Take it more seriously. We never had the sirens go off like that, so everyone was outside curious on why they were going on until the power went off and the storm hit bad after.”
As clean-up efforts continue, roofs are getting patched up, residents are advised to stay informed through local news channels and official updates from authorities. With more storms possibly on the horizon, it’s crucial for everyone to remain vigilant and prepared for any further developments.
Butler Lantern 