The damage was done to the town of Parkersburg and the subdivision just north of New Hartford. Several other residents and farms between the two towns and on eastward into Black Hawk County were also damaged if not destroyed. The storm however wasn’t done producing tornadoes. As everyone begin to assess the situation in those communities that evening, the tornadic storm was not done producing tornadoes as it moved across Buchanan, Delaware and Dubuque counties.
15 minutes after the Parkersburg-New Hartford tornado had lifted between Dunkerton and Fairbank, Tornado #2 formed from the same thunderstorm. Rated an EF3 Tornado. This one would be on the ground for over an hour (6:05pm-7:10pm) with a damage path of over 32 miles. This storm would injure 3 people. Several mobile homes at a dealership in Hazleton were destroyed by the tornado, with several more residents receiving damage. As this tornado was moving through another tornado formed briefly south of Lamont around 6:40pm with some damage along its two mile path.
The next tornado formed southwest of Petersburg (from the same thunderstorm once again) 20 minutes after the second tornado lifted. This would be on the ground for just under 8 miles with it being rated an EF1. This tornado did damage to some out buildings and numerous trees. The tornadic storm continued into Dubuque County and even into Jo Daviess County IL after 9pm before the circulation weakened enough. Two other tornadoes dropped in eastern Iowa later that night as part of a complex of thunderstorms that then raced across the state. Along with another tornado (mainly forgotten in southern Iowa around the same time as the Parkersburg storm). The tornado would kill 9 people, the most fatalities in a tornado in the state since the 1968 Charles City Tornado (also an EF5/F5 Tornado)
NWS Des Moines’ Report on the Parkersburg-New Hartford Tornado
NWS Quad Cities Damage Surveys From May 25th 2008
Parkersburg Tornado Service Assessment
KCRG’s Coverage of Parkersburg Tornado
House Getting Destroyed in Parkersburg Tornado