GREENFIELD, Iowa — If you drive into Greenfield this week, you will see a number of new houses, and a few vacant lots. There is one home that is still pretty much untouched after the debris from the tornado was removed.

Frank Carns bought this house in 1976. He also owns another home on the north side of town with his wife, which was not destroyed. He now resides in the house on Greenfield’s north side.

He and his wife were in the north side house one year ago, when the storm rolled in.

“My wife wanted to watch so she stayed up, and I wondered why she hadn’t followed me down to the basement. I went up to see what was holding her up as I was going up the stairs she said ‘oh my,’ and I said, ‘what?’” said Carns. “She says there’s stuff flying around swirling through the air, I said let’s get to the basement.”

Now, the house Carns hoped to remodel, is a hole in the ground with basement walls. The property also has a pile of metal objects Carns hopes to sell for scrap metal. Carns was asked if he could rebuild.

“I have no idea really, most of the stuff we’ll wind up throwing away, or saving for scrap if I can,” said Carns. “The foundations all gotta be torn out.”

Carns was asked if someone could help him, would he proceed to remove the basement and metal pile.

“I suppose, I don’t know, would need some heavy equipment and a place to haul to, and money to pay the landfill or whatever you know, it all costs money,” said Carns.

Iowa News: