The town of Marcus and vicinity shared with the rest of this section in the damage done by the heavy south wind that blew nearly all day Monday. (October 10, 1949) The wind reached a velocity of about 50 miles per hour occasionally, and kept the air full of leaves and debris.
A great many minor losses have been reported throughout the community. Small buildings, grain bins, roofs and windmills suffered, and some farm machinery was wrecked.
One agent specializing in town policies, said that he had fifteen claims, ranging from doors blown off to destroyed roofs.
The most spectacular bit of damage was done to the Idle Hour Cafe. The entire sheet metal roof blew off in one piece, landing on three cars in the middle of Main street. The cars belonged to John Bentz, Frank McQueen and a stranger.
Other Main Street damage included a window in the Wagner building.
Damage to the corn crop in this area will run into a large figure, in spite of the heavy rain Sunday evening that stiffened the stalks to a great extent.
It is estimated that about 30% of the ears are now on the ground and will have to be gathered by hand or fed in the field. One farmer reported that on Saturday, six rows in a field filled a wagon box, and that on Tuesday the same field required eight rows to fill the box. The corn was also down to some extend before Monday’s wind.
C.F. Beck, Marcus agent of the Iowa Mutual Insurance Company, had received 125 claims for damage to farm property up to Thursday morning, and he expects the total amount to exceed two hundred.
Worst farm damage reported was to the Ray Franz barn near Meriden, which was pretty well wrecked. The corn crib was blown down on the Bill Challman farm, and the rest of the claims were for smaller buildings, roofs, doors, etc.