MANTI, Utah — A tornado roared through a southeast section of this temple city Sept. 8, destroying six homes and wreaking more than $1 million in damage, as many residents were engaged in Sabbath day worship or visiting relatives.
The Manti Utah Temple was undamaged, as were other Church properties, said Douglas Dyreng, president of the Manti Utah Stake.
"The amazing thing is that no one was injured; no one received so much as a scratch from the whole thing," he noted.
President Dyreng said he understood that four homes were damaged to the point they were uninhabitable, while approximately 200 homes were affected in one way or another by the twister, which officials identified as an F2 tornado on the Fujita scale. On the scale, which ranges from F0 to F6, F2 tornadoes are those with winds of 113 to 157 mph.
"The Church members did help immediately to relieve those that had difficulty with their homes," he said. "They went right to work to board up windows, patch up roofs, move people out who couldn't stay in their homes, clean up and do everything that could be done."
Neighborhoods sustaining the worst devastation were in the boundaries of the Manti 3rd and Manti 5th wards, President Dyreng said. "The 3rd Ward was right in the middle of Sunday afternoon meetings. A tremendous hail storm hit right then and there was a loss of power. When all this went through, the bishop asked heads of houses to go home" and see to their property while other family members were kept in the building until it could be determined it was safe to go out.
Meetings in the 5th Ward, where most of the damage was sustained, had let out shortly before the storm hit about 1:50 p.m.
President Dyreng said Sept. 10 that residents were waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Administration to assess damage, after which the final phase of cleanup efforts would take place. Other than the few homes that were destroyed, "it's a big mess in most cases, with a lot of little repair work that needs to be done on lots of houses," he said.
The stake president said the experience had demonstrated the power of Mother Nature. "The other thing we've learned is how wonderful people are when tragedy strikes, how all kinds of people call and volunteer to help. I received calls from the [Utah South] area presidency, from Church Humanitarian Services, from the Red Cross; you name it. Everybody you can think of was willing and offered a hand. It is amazing to see how much man cares for his fellow man."
