Damage is still being assessed in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota after large hail and high winds hit the region on Wednesday. In Iowa’s Mitchell, Winnebago and Worth counties, windows were shattered, shingles were shredded and crops were crushed by the storm.
Ray Huftalin, emergency management coordinator for Worth and Mitchell counties, says some hailstones were as big as baseballs. The storm went through about five miles wide along Highway 218, east of Saint Ansgar. Huftalin says it hit corn, soybeans, houses, buildings and there’s a lot of damage to roofs and metal buildings. He says it was astonishing to see large hail stones still covering the ground several hours after the storm.
Huftalin says the storm hit around four A.M. and he was still seeing hail up to two-feet deep on the ground near Saint Ansgar after nine A.M. He says some of the crops that were ready to be harvested took a damaging blow from the large hail and wind gusts around 60 miles an hour.
Huftalin says some of the corn is flat while elsewhere, the corn had its tops lopped off. He says some fields will see 100-percent losses while others will see 50-percent or less. The National Weather Service says some hail was two-and-three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Damage is reported in communities including: New Haven, Little Cedar and Scarville.