Published: June 21, 2008 12:02 am      

Van Zuiden survives Little Sioux Scout Ranch tornado

BELLEVUE, Neb. — As 13-year-old Cody Van Zuiden and other scouts took cover from the rain under their shelter at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch on June 11, their Scoutmaster told them to hush.

“He heard some sirens,” Cody said during a telephone interview with the Clinton Herald from his home in Bellevue, Neb. “He told us to be quiet and get inside.”

As the campers followed instructions, watching a movie to pass the time, the Scoutmaster gave another order:

“Get under the tables!”

According to Cody, whose parents Bruce and Sarah (Reynolds) Van Zuiden grew up in Fulton, Ill., and Albany/Garden Plain, Ill., respectively, the boys dove for cover just moments before the devastating EF3 tornado struck the camp, killing four Boy Scouts and injuring nearly 50 others.

“Two seconds later, I saw the door getting torn off, followed by the walls being torn off,” Cody said. “I just covered my head in the fetal position.”

Unlike the common reference likening twisters to freight trains, Cody recalled only unbearable silence.

“I just tuned it out,” Cody said. “I was just hoping it was a dream. I didn’t want to believe it was real.”

Then as quickly as it hit, the tornado was gone, leaving behind a path of destruction and chaos. The north cabin, where Cody and dozens of others had weathered the storm, was leveled, and the stone chimney at the other end of the building had collapsed, possibly after being struck by an airborne pick-up truck, resulting in the deaths of other scouts from different troops.

“The campsite was nothing like it had been before,” said Cody, who came away from the incident visibly shaken, but with just minor cuts and bruises, and a lost pair of glasses.

“I just wanted to go home so bad.”

Back in Bellevue, Cody’s parents and four older siblings had received word of the tornado, and waited for more than five excruciating hours before they heard that Cody, the baby of the family, was safe.

“It was a long wait,” said Cody’s mom, Sarah.

Cody’s dad made the hour-long drive to West Harrison High School in Mondamin, where the uninjured scouts were waiting to be picked up, and father and son enjoyed a tearful reunion. Cody arrived safely back at home around 4 a.m., and rather than sleeping in his own room, he chose to sleep in the spare bedroom in the basement, where he felt safer.

Cody was acquainted with one of the boys who was killed, and would like the families of the deceased scouts to know they are in his prayers. His mom reports he is doing well, and is sleeping in his own bed now. He is even planning another camping trip with his scout troop in July.

In a typical display of Boy Scout bravery, Cody reports that if the Little Sioux site is rebuilt, he has no reservations about returning there.

“This was such a freak accident, the chances of it happening again are little to none,” Cody said. “I wouldn’t hesitate to camping there again.”