Perhaps the worst damage in Iowa from the severe weather in the past day happened early this morning in the northwest Iowa town of Storm Lake.
Aimee Barritt, the Buena Vista County emergency management coordinator, says thousands of MidAmerican Energy customers in Storm Lake are without power after a severe thunderstorm hit about 1 AM.
“They have several power poles that are down at this point in time,” Barritt says. “This could change, but they’re telling us it’s going to be about 8 PM before power is restored. That’s their best estimate right now. They have a lot of work to do to do that.”
Storm Lake Police photo
The Storm Lake Police Department is releasing a series of photos showing toppled concrete walls, flipped semis, and heavy damage to apartment buildings and stores.
“In the city of Storm Lake, there’s lots of power lines down,” Barritt says. “We’ve seen businesses with their roofs ripped off, there have been some gas leaks and there’s been a lot of debris and downed power lines on the road.”
She recommends residents who can stay home from work or school to do exactly that as the roads are covered with debris and power lines.
Damage is also being assessed in north-central Iowa’s Wright County, where more than two-thousand homes lost power in this morning’s storms.
Wright County emergency manager Jarika Eisentrager is surveying the destruction to farmsteads.
“A lot of them are out in the country. They have damage to their outbuildings,” Eisentrager says. “Some of their hoop buildings got the tarps ripped off and some hog facilities had damage to their roofs.”
Damage is being assessed in southwest Iowa’s Page and Fremont counties after a tornado touched down Thursday night. Page County emergency management coordinator Jill Harvey says the storm veered north of the town of Essex.
“Thankfully, it did not hit directly in Essex,” Harvey says. “They had some minor power outages here in town, but there are several structures damaged around the area.” Harvey says officials were concerned for a time that the tornado would strike Shenandoah, but fortunately, it steered away. She’s asking Essex residents to avoid leaving their homes, for now, and for gawkers to keep out.
“We do have quite a few trees covering roads,” Harvey says. “You may come across roads that are blocked. Due to the damage and debris across roads and downed power lines, we are requesting that people stay out of the area. If you happen to be around Essex, please use extreme caution. There are power lines down.” Despite the damage, Harvey says no injuries were reported in the county.
Storm Lake police photo
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says he expects the farming community to take a heavy hit from the storms.
“While some towns may have been sparred, like Essex,” Naig says, “everybody was really watching last night, and hoping for the best there. We know that there have been farms that have been damaged.”
Aside from the tornado damage, Naig says reports of large hail in parts of the state are also concerning.
“Just incredible hail size and hail damage,” Naig says. “Not just in southwest Iowa, but we did see some reports even up in northeast (Iowa), where there were some systems that got built up, and you’re hearing about one inch and two inch hail sizes — and that can do a heck of a lot of damage, as we all well know.”
Thursday’s storms struck in the wake of last year’s horrific tornado outbreaks, including the May 21st twister that hit Greenfield. Though rebuilding efforts continue in Greenfield, Naig says some producers are still coping with storm damage.
“There’s been an incredible amount of work that’s been done,” Naig says. “A lot of homes rebuilt, some farm places that are on their way, but a lot of people that are not yet in their homes. It’s a year ago that it happened. It’s a good reminder that, hey, there’s been a ton of progress made, with the community rallying together — the communities, not just Greenfield. But, boy, we’re a long ways from being totally recovered.” Naig says it’s “just the reality, unfortunately, of spring, particularly in Iowa.”
Taylor County reported wind gusts of 76 miles an hour, while that golf ball-sized hail was reported near towns including Hampton and Waverly.
National Weather Service meteorologist Craig Cogil says the forecast calls for cooler, calmer weather today, but storms are likely to return on Easter Sunday.
“Right now, looks like Saturday will be relatively pleasant, maybe a little bit cool, but overall pleasant,” he says. “We are seeing a storm system move up this way on Sunday with rain over spreading the area by Sunday afternoon and continuing Sunday night. Should be some generous rainfall for much of the state, anywhere from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half.”
Keep up with the changing forecast at weather.gov.
(Thanks to Ryan Thompson at KAYL in Storm Lake, Mike Peterson at KMA in Shenandoah, and Pat Powers at KQWC in Webster City)