Strong thunderstorms last night and yesterday afternoon dumped more rain on Iowa, pushing already-swollen rivers farther out of their banks. Large hail, funnel clouds and a few tornadoes also came with the new round of storms. Along the Missouri border, Ringgold County Emergency Management director Teresa Jackson says there’s a lot of wind damage between Redding and Maloy, but no injuries.Jackson says a lot of trees were downed on power lines, cutting off electricity to many homes. At the height of the storm, some four-thousand MidAmerican Energy customers in central Iowa were without power. An entire machine shed north of Redding was lifted up and dropped while a family huddled in the basement, unhurt. The roof was torn off the Midwest Country Music Theatre by a possible tornado and is now scattered across a Ringgold County pasture. Jackson credits area weather spotters and emergency responders for doing their duty in the extreme conditions. A few year ago, a tornado hit that same part of the state but Jackson says it wasn’t in the exact spot.There also was reported damage in Taylor County near Bedford by last night’s storms. A popular gathering spot for country music lovers in southern Iowa’s Ringgold County was heavily damaged in last night’s violent storms. Butch Chaffin owns the Midwest Country Music Theater, near Redding, and talks about the extent of the damage. He says the roof was lifted off the west side of the building and scattered across a pasture. All of the theater’s ceiling and wiring came down and there’s a lot of water damage but a nearby house and garage were missed by the suspected tornado. Chaffin says the theater will have to cancel some of the future shows until it can be rebuilt and cleaned up. He says it’s fortunate the theatre wasn’t packed with people as it was Sunday night for the show. Chaffin says he is not sure of the dollar amount damage.
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