RAGBRAI 2012: Storms lash town overnight

Riders take shelter Wednesday in Marshalltown. (David Purdy/The Register)

MARSHALLTOWN, Ia. — The heat has eased, but the first thing to take its place Wednesday night in parts of Iowa was 70-mph wind gusts.

There was no immediate word of injuries — including in Marshalltown, where at least 10,000 bicyclists on the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa were stopped for the night, many camping outside.

6 photos from Wednesday night storms

Sitting in Marshalltown’s Center Steet bar, rider Jennifer King, 39, said the rain hit her just around 8:15 as she rode into the city following the ride’s fourth day. She and her group ducked into the bar to wait out the storm.

While the rain shut down the city’s events for the night, King said the rain was a welcome change for her weeklong bike ride.

“It was actually cool,” she said.

At Veterans Memorial Coliseum off Marshalltown’s square, around 20 riders gathered Wednesday night. Carol Martin of Los Gatos, Calif., evacuated her camp at Riverview Park and came to the coliseum with two teammates after a law enforcement officer told them to, she said.

Kim Elder, Marshall County emergency management coordinator, said officials went to campgrounds and alerted riders and provided transportation to shelters in town. She added some of the slower riders who were still out when the bad weather rolled in were also alerted of the storm. Emergency radio dispatchers spoke to a gathering of several riders at a public building in Clemons, about 16 miles from Marshalltown.

Dan Moellers, chairman of Marshalltown’s RAGBRAI beer garden, yelled orders through the noisy wind to workers who scurried to roll up and pack away anything that could blow away.

At 9:30 p.m., cups, trash and fliers flew about the city’s square as remaining vendors rushed to pack up trailers and booths.

Moellers’ team started packing up at around 8:45 after hearing reports.

“We’ve got a lot of volunteers,” he said. “It’s a little hard to see it go down like this, but that’s the way it works.”

Sitting with about 20 others on cots in a room at the city’s coliseum, Neil Mulka, 30, said he and his wife didnt expect rain on their first RAGBRAI.

“We’re supposed to be in a drought,” he said.

The Leavenworth, Kansas native and his wife, Mary, abandoned their campsite in Riverview Park in favor of the coliseum. They’d already set up their tents and had all their gear inside, including sleeping bags, when the rain started.

“We had a contingency plan for rain, like light showers,” he said. “Nothing like this.”

— Reporters Josh Hafner and James Heggen contributed to this story.

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