The National Weather Service has completed it’s survey of Sunday’s storm damage in eastern Iowa. Meteorologist Jeff Johnson says one tornado flattened homes, businesses, and crops from just south of Sully in Jasper County to north of Malcolm in Poweshiek County.
Johnson says the tornado covered 22 miles and was rated an EF2, with 125 mile per hour winds. "It hit a warehouse that had some steel framing and bent that pretty good," Johnson says, "and it went on to inflict some damage to some homes." A separate tornado, rated as an EF1 with 105 mile per winds, covered a five mile track near Malcolm.
Johnson says there was another tornado that briefly touched down in Calhoun County. With the three tornadoes on Sunday, there have now been 35 confirmed tornadoes in Iowa this year. Johnson says that’s about 13 below normal for this time of year. He says it is getting a little late in the season for more tornado activity.
"But we can still get them," Johnson says, "you can recall back to November of ’05, when we had a substantial tornado outbreak on the 12th of November." Johnson says he has not heard of any injuries from the storms on Sunday.