Thousands of acres corn and soybeans from central Iowa to the Mississippi River have either been flattened or are leaning as a result of storms that blew through this morning. Gary Thompson, farms north of Van Horne in Benton County, and is worried about his corn crop
“The stuff that’s really flat, I don’t if it can pollinate ,it might be a total loss, I don’t you, too early to say right now,” Thompson said, ” of course, you’re looking at it the day after, we’re hopin’ for the best.” Thompson says because commodity prices are at near record levels, they were able to insure everything at a higher rate.
He says that will help ease the pain if the fields turn out to be a total loss. Thompson says there will be some huge checks written one way or the other in the fall, so that is one good thing going for them.
The corn wasn’t the only thing that took a hit from the wind. The Iowa Department of Transportation says U.S. Highway 69 in Story and Polk counties near Alleman was closed by the storm. D.O.T. spokesman, Mike Krohn, says power poles damaged by the wind forced them to close the road.
He says some of the poles are right on the road or next to it. Krohn says it’s rare to have power poles go down and cause a closure.
Krohn says the poles usually stay up pretty well, but he says it was an unusual high-velocity flat-line wind and you only have to look at the cornfields and see how much corn is lying down to tell it was a strong wind.
Power crews are working on the poles and they hope to be able to open the road Tuesday. Krohn says the power company thinks it will take them through the night into tomorrow to get the work completed. He says they will be in contact with the power company and open the roadway as soon as possible.