Hero dies shielding wife from Iowa tornado in bathtub that was thrown 100 feet

‘They were inseparable, so I think she is just having a hard time processing how she was the quote-unquote “lucky one,”’ son-in-law says

A man died while shielding his wife from a tornado in Iowa when the bathtub they were sheltering in was flung 100 feet by strong winds.

Family members told local media that Rodney Clark’s final actions saved the life of his wife Judy. They had been married for 20 years.

The area where their home stood in Madison County, Iowa, was turned into a muddy field by the violent storm on Saturday.

Son-in-law Rhys Pate told KCCI that the 64-year-old “was changing the brakes on his truck, and Judy came yelling at Rod, ‘You got to get inside. The tornado is coming’”.

The storm was rated an EF-4, with peak winds of 170 mph (274 kph), the National Weather Service said on Monday. The tornado was on the ground for nearly 70 miles (113km), leaving the longest path of destruction since a 1984 tornado that carved a path 117 miles (188km) long.

The bathtub flew 100 feet before it landed in a pile of rubble. Grandson Jase Brumfild told KCCI that Mr Clark “laid on top of her and held her close and pretty much saved her life”.

“I just knew that that was him. That was something that he would definitely do,” he added.

The family said the couple loved dancing, riding horses, and were rarely seen away from each other.

“They were inseparable, so I think she is just having a hard time processing how she was the quote-unquote ‘lucky one,’” Mr Pate told KCCI.

Mr Clark leaves behind three children and nine grandchildren.

“I am going to miss him so much because now, whenever I am going to have a wrestling tournament, it is not going to feel the same without him watching,” Jase added.

“He used to make everything fun, even if I was sad,” granddaughter Johannah Pate said.

A GoFundMe fundraiser to help with the efforts to rebuild the home has raised more than $12,000, surpassing the goal set at $10,000.

Five other people also died in Madison County when the tornado tore through the area.

Four of them were members of the same family who were huddled together in the pantry of a home, authorities said.

Two children, their father, and their grandmother all died on Saturday when a tornado hit the grandparents’ home near rural Winterset that didn’t have a basement. Family members said the children’s mother, 8-year-old brother, grandfather, and uncle survived the storm, but they were injured.

The children and their parents, from Blue Springs, Missouri, were visiting their grandmother, Melissa Bazley, 63, when the tornado hit. The storm killed Bazley, 37-year-old Michael Bolger, and two of his three young children, five-year-old Kinlee Bolger and two-year-old Owen Bolger.

A GoFundMe page for the family says Kuri Bolger, who is the children’s mother and Bazley’s daughter, was hospitalized after being seriously injured. Lynn Larson said her daughter-in-law, Kuri Bolger, underwent surgery on her leg Monday and faces another surgery on her arm to repair broken bones. Her oldest grandson was treated at the hospital and released.

Ms Larson said she and the rest of her family are “just devastated”.

“I just can’t describe how wonderful Mike was. Everybody loved him,” Ms Larson said. “It just rips your heart out. My grandchildren were wonderful. They were just the light of my life.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report