Tornadoes roll across the state

Iowans took cover this afternoon as severe thunderstorms roared across the state. The storms dropped heavy rain, hail and spawned several tornadoes. Adair county farmer Dave Nichols was hosting an event promoting “Beef Month” when the storm hit. He says black clouds moved in and then a tornado touched down about two miles away.Nichols says some of the animals on his farm were acting strangely before the tornado touched down.This morning’s incident brought back memories of a tornado last year that damaged Nichols’ farm and several others in the area. That tornado damaged Nichols’ farm, but today’s tornado did not.Today’s storm did not damage Nichols’ farm. In Prairie City just southeast of Des Moines police chief Mick King was out checking for damage.He says the storm didn’t have much wind, but dropped golfball sized hail.He says there was also some baseball size hail in some areas. King hasn’t heard a lot of damage reports, but says they’re likely to come in.The National Weather Service says hail was reported across central and eastern Iowa varying in size from one-half-inch to an inch-and-three-quarters. There were several reports of tornadoes, but no reports of major damage.