Tuesday night’s severe storms flattened farm outbuildings, leveled a century-old church, uprooted trees and knocked out power in communities across northwest Iowa. In Plymouth County, the Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Craig Bartolozzi says winds up to 90-miles an hour took a heavy toll.
Bartolozzi says there was extensive crop damage in and around Brunsville. There were many trees and power lines downed and several farms lost buildings. A Plymouth County hog confinement building was blown apart, turning some two-thousand hogs loose.
Bartolozzi says the exact cause of the destruction is still being determined.
He says in some areas it looks like tornadic activity but much of the corn that’s laying flat looks like it was caused by straight-line winds. Parts of northwest Iowa got four inches of rain overnight. Reporter Greg Slotzky says Cherokee County was also hard-hit in Tuesday night’s storms.
Besides damage to farm buildings and flattened crops, a century-old rural church was destroyed. The Maryhill Visitation Catholic Church, located about seven miles west of Cherokee, was demolished by the strong winds. The church was built in 1892 and served as a place of worship and a gathering place for generations of families. Maryhill was well known for its yearly summer picnic that drew hundreds of area residents. Despite all the damage, there were no reported injuries in Cherokee County.