AmeriCares has shipped a truck of water containing more than 35,000 half-liter bottles to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo, Iowa, to aid in the recovery from the strongest tornado to hit Iowa in 32 years.

Water, food and shelter are the most pressing needs in northeast Iowa, which was devastated when a level 5 tornado -- the top of the National Weather Services scale, on which 3 is classified as severe and 4 as devastating -- struck on May 25. The tornado killed seven and left hundreds homeless. It was the first level 5 tornado of the year, with winds registering up to 205 miles per hour.

Parkersburg, Iowa, was particularly hard hit, with local officials estimating that 288 homes were destroyed in a town of 1,000 residents.

AmeriCares has been working in conjunction with Nestle Waters, who donated the bottled water, and local partners on the ground in Iowa. We continue to stay in contact with them to supply any additional aid that may be needed.

To date, 2008 is on track to break the record for number of tornadoes in the United States in one year. There have been an estimated 1,246 tornadoes as of late May, with 110 deaths as a result. The record for tornadoes in a year is 1,817 in 2004.