2006 Showboat Theatre Severe Storm Damage

On Wednesday, July 19th at approximately 12:30pm, the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities issued a severe thunderstorm warning for our area.  The warning was issued when Doppler radar identified a line of storms with potential wind speeds in excess of 60 mph.

The office and technical staff were aboard the Showboat when the storm arrived. 

The storm did bring with it very heavy rains and strong winds as forecasted.  The winds were so strong that the doors to the back deck had to be locked to keep them from being blown open.  All of our deck furniture was blown from one end of the deck to the other.  The Showboat Landing sign on the street level that is shared with the Mississippi Belle 2 had part of its paneling blown out.  One piece of that paneling managed to make it from the sign and land on the bottom of the covered ramp. 

The major damage came from the collapse of our smoke stacks.  One landed and destroyed a portion of the back deck.  The other was still attached to the ornamental piece and was leaning against the roof.

After the storm had passed, we were able to finally get an idea of the overall damage.

A crane was brought in the next morning to remove what was left of the stacks.

  Special thanks to Matt Schmidt (Box Office Manager / House Manager), Emily Eisenman (Asst. Box Office Manager), Sara Swanberg (Asst. Stage Manager), Amy Jo Peters (Tech Intern), and Alison May (Lighting Designer) for contributions to this page.