Many Iowans will be spending this holiday cleaning up the aftermath of strong thunderstorms that struck overnight. Large tree limbs fell on some houses in Sergeant Bluff in far northwest Iowa.
Woodbury County Emergency Services Director Gary Brown says there was some rotation in the storm, but no funnel cloud was produced. “It looks like that storm produced some microburst or down drafts coming out of the front of the storm with winds in excess of 70 miles an hour,” Brown said. “That’s consistent with the kind of damage we’re seeing in the Sergeant Bluff and Sioux City area.”
Daniel Rosales of Sergeant Bluff had a tree in his family’s front yard fall through the front of their home. “Me and my dad and my little sister were home and the power went out,” Rosales said. “You couldn’t see anything outside and as it passed through, we heard a thump. It was until (the storm) passed that we noticed there was a tree in the front of the house.”
The National Weather Service reports the high winds knocked over semis on Interstate 29 in Woodbury County. There have been no reports of injuries from the storms in Sergeant Bluff or Sioux City. In nearby Dakota City, Nebraska, two people sustained minor injuries when a tree fell on their camper.
Flash flooding occurred over portions of western and central Iowa. A weather spotter in Crawford County reported 3.6 inches of rain fell in just over a two-hour period. Large hail fell in Carroll and Buena Vista Counties. In Guthrie County, winds of up to 80 miles an hour toppled trees and power lines.
by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, additional reporting by Pat Curtis, Radio Iowa