GREENFIELD.- Several people were killed Tuesday when a tornado tore through Greenfield, leaving a trail of destroyed homes, crushed cars and broken trees. The strong winds also toppled and twisted windmills.
After devastating the town of about 2,000 residents on Tuesday, the storms moved east to hit parts of Illinois and Wisconsin, leaving tens of thousands of people without power between the two states.
Greenfield Hospital was one of the buildings damaged, so at least a dozen injured people had to be taken to other medical facilities, according to Iowa State Patrol Sergeant Alex Dinkla.
“Unfortunately we can confirm that there have been deaths,” Dinkla said at a news conference Tuesday night. “Right now we are still counting.”
He said he believed they had located all the residents of the town, but the search would continue if anyone was reported missing. Adair County Health System said on Facebook Tuesday night that it had set up a triage center at Greenfield High School and urged people in need of medical care to go there.
The tornado destroyed much of the town, located about 88 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Des Moines, during a day that saw multiple tornadoes, giant hail and torrential rains in several states. The National Weather Service said it received 23 reports of tornadoes on Tuesday, most in Iowa, plus one in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota.
Authorities imposed a curfew in the town, saying they would only allow residents in until Wednesday morning and ordering the media to leave Tuesday night.
The storm left piles of broken wood, branches, car parts and other debris in the lots where houses once stood. The trees that were still standing had lost branches and leaves. Residents helped each other rescue furniture and other belongings that had been scattered in all directions.
Rogue Paxton told WOI-TV that he took shelter in the basement of his home when the storm passed and that his family was lucky.
“Others, like my brother Cody, didn’t have it. Her house was just razed,” Paxton said. “Everything is going to be fine because we have each other, but it is going to be very, very hard. It is a disaster”.
Several tornadoes were reported in the state, one of which appeared to have toppled several 250-foot (76-meter) wind power mills in southwestern Iowa. Some of the wind farm’s turbines caught fire and smoke billowed into the air. . Wind farms are built to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and other strong winds.
The state’s governor, Kim Reynolds, was scheduled to visit Greenfield on Wednesday morning.
“Just a few weeks ago, tornadoes hit other Iowa towns, and it’s hard to believe it happened again,” he said in a statement. “The people of Iowa are strong and resilient, and we will get through this together.”
Iowa had braced for severe weather after the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center gave most of the state a high chance of major thunderstorms with the possibility of strong tornadoes. Storm and tornado warnings extended to Wisconsin on Tuesday afternoon and evening.
Earlier Tuesday, residents west of Omaha, Nebraska, woke up to alarm sirens and widespread power outages as torrential rains, gales and large hail hit the area. The flood flooded basements and submerged cars. Television station KETV showed images of firefighters rescuing people from vehicles.
In Illinois, dust storms led authorities to close sections of two interstate highways due to lack of visibility.
The storms followed several days of extreme weather across much of the center of the country.
In Texas, the death toll from last week’s storms in the Houston area rose to seven to include a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning while operating a generator after losing power. Hurricane-force winds reduced businesses and other buildings to rubble and shattered glass in downtown skyscrapers.
Bob Oravec, forecaster for the National Weather Service, said the storm system was expected to turn south on Wednesday, bringing more severe weather to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Source: With information from AP/EDITORIAL
