DEVASTATION IN IOWA! Tornadoes RIP Through Communities, Leaving Death and Destruction
Some Iowa communities will wake up Wednesday to sift through the rubble of now-unrecognizable homes and mourn the deaths of neighbors killed by a series of tornado-spawning storms that ripped through the Midwest yesterday and are now threatening a much larger swath of the United States.
Multiple fatalities and injuries have been reported in Greenfield, Iowa, roughly 50 miles southwest of Des Moines, after a tornado ripped through the village Tuesday evening, according to Iowa State Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Alex Dinkla. Dinkla did not specify the number or type of the deaths.
“There is nothing left,” Clel Baudler, a former Iowa state lawmaker who lives about a half mile from Greenfield, told CNN on Tuesday. Homes and other structures have been destroyed, and the town is covered with debris, flung automobiles, and uprooted trees, according to video footage captured by CNN affiliate KCCI.
At least 17 tornado reports were filed in Iowa on Tuesday, as part of a parade of storms that has swept over the United States this week, causing extensive power outages, structural damage, and some flooding.
Power outages in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois left almost 200,000 homes and businesses without power as of Tuesday night, according to PowerOutage.us. More disruptions are expected as Wednesday’s storms move through the East.
On Wednesday, the severe thunderstorm threat eases slightly, but it is still forecast to unleash strong winds, hail, and some tornadoes across a 1,500-mile stretch from Texas to western New York.
“On Wednesday, severe thunderstorms with destructive gusts and hail are expected from northern Texas to the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes area. “The Storm Prediction Center predicts the greatest threat of damaging hail and wind from north Texas to the Ozarks.”
A few tornadoes could hit from Texas to Kentucky, but hail and strong winds are probable anywhere along the storm’s course.
According to the Storm Prediction Center, about 11 million people are at a Level 3 of 5 danger of thunderstorms across northern Texas, southern Oklahoma, southern Missouri, and much of Arkansas. This area includes the populous Texas cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington.
Cities such as Nashville, St. Louis, Memphis, Cleveland, Tulsa, and Columbus should be prepared for the storm, even if it is expected to be less severe on Wednesday.
Tornadoes Leave a Deadly and Destructive Trail Through Lowa
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds declared a disaster emergency for 15 counties on Tuesday, following a powerful line of thunderstorms that caused uncommon, elevated tornado watches in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
Western Iowa suffered the brunt of the storms’ devastating effects. Violent winds and suspected tornadoes destroyed buildings in Greenfield overturned a massive wind turbine in Prescott and reduced numerous people’s homes to piles of jagged rubble.
In addition to the deaths reported in Greenfield, at least one other person was killed as storms swept through nearby Adams County, according to local officials. More than two dozen properties in Montgomery County were damaged or destroyed, including “critical public facilities,” according to emergency management officials. No injuries have been recorded, but damage assessments are still underway.
Valerie Warrior, a Greenfield resident, told CNN affiliate KCCI that she prayed to God to protect her home and family before riding out the storm in her basement. “I was in the furnace room, and then I heard (the storm) like a train,” she explained, describing insulation blowing off basement windows. “I heard it and I knew it was hitting.”
Warrior said the magnitude of damage is “devastating” to watch, but she is hopeful that communities will pull together to get through the crisis.
“They’ll get through this. You can already see people assisting each other and working together. When a disaster strikes, people pull together. People get together to help and encourage one another.”
Warrior fought back tears as he glanced out across a rubble-strewn lawn, trying to grin.