At least 5 dead, dozens injured by Iowa tornadoes as powerful storms batter Midwest

At least five people died and dozens more were injured when powerful tornadoes ripped through Iowa, including one wreaking destruction in the small town of Greenfield, officials said Wednesday.

The tornadoes destroyed homes and businesses, shredded trees and destroyed cars, just weeks after tornadoes struck and devastated communities in other parts of the state. The latest storms also hit much of Nebraska with torrential rain, high winds and large hail.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety announced Wednesday evening that four people were killed and at least 35 injured in the tornado that struck Greenfield, located in Adair County. At least 14 people were transported to medical facilities outside the county.

“It should be noted that the number of injuries is likely higher, but these figures only reflect patients treated for their injuries at designated alternative care sites,” the agency said in a news release.

In neighboring Adams County, a driver was killed Tuesday evening when her vehicle was blown off the road by a tornado, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office reported.

The names of those killed were not immediately released.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for 15 counties in the state hit by severe weather and visited Greenfield, a hard-hit town of about 2,000 about 55 miles away on Wednesday. miles southwest of Des Moines, to “assess the damage with local authorities. and start the recovery process.

The governor called the situation “tragic” and “heartbreaking” during a news conference in Greenfield Wednesday morning. She told reporters that much of the town was flattened by the tornado, and a number of homes and buildings, including the local hospital, were damaged or completely destroyed.

State Rep. Ray Sorensen, whose jurisdiction includes Greenfield, said he and other residents pulled a man from the rubble Tuesday evening and took him to a “makeshift hospital” set up in a lumberyard neighbor.

The governor thanked nearby hospitals for treating the injured, some of whom were airlifted from Greenfield, and noted that a search and rescue mission was still underway Wednesday to care for everyone present in the city.

“This is still a search mission, as we are looking to make sure all residents are identified,” said Iowa State Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Alex Dinkla. “When we have this many homes that have been destroyed or completely demolished, we want to make sure that every resident, every person, is accounted for.”

In the aftermath of the storm, parts of Greenfield appeared devastated. Mounds of broken wood, branches, car parts and other debris littered the lots where homes once stood. Cars were smashed and bent while damaged houses stood lopsided against the gray, overcast sky. The trees were – barely – devoid of branches or leaves. Residents helped each other salvage furniture and other belongings from piles of debris or barely standing homes.

Dinkla said a curfew was in effect in the city.

The Adair County Health System hospital in Greenfield was damaged in the storm, but Mercy One spokesman Todd Mizener said he had no further details. The hospital is affiliated with Mercy One and officials were traveling to Greenfield to assess the damage.

Several tornadoes were reported across the state, and one also apparently destroyed several 250-foot wind turbines in southwest Iowa. Some turbines caught fire, sending plumes of smoke into the air, and continued to smolder hours later.

Wind farms are built to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and other powerful winds. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, wind turbines are designed to shut down when winds exceed certain thresholds, typically around 55 mph. They also lock and feather their blades and turn into the wind to minimize tension.

CBS News obtained dramatic video captured by a tornado chaser in Adams County, Iowa, that showed a home destroyed by a tornado, with debris swirling.

As of Wednesday evening, about 3,500 Iowa homes and businesses were without power, according to the utility tracking site PowerOutage.us, compared to more than 32,000 as of Tuesday evening.

Camille Blair said the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce office where she works was closed around 2 p.m. Tuesday before the storm. She came out of her home to describe the widespread damage and scattered debris.

“There’s some pretty significant roof damage to several houses that I know are going to need a whole new roof,” she said. “And I can see from my house that it went straight down the road.”

In far southwest Iowa, video posted to social media shows a tornado just northwest of Red Oak. Farther east and north, the National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings for areas near the towns of Griswold, Corning, Fontanelle and Guthrie Center, among others.

Iowa was already prepared for severe weather after the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center gave most of the state a high chance of seeing severe thunderstorms with the potential for strong tornadoes. Des Moines Public Schools ended classes two hours early and canceled all evening activities ahead of the storms.

Earlier today, residents in west Omaha, Nebraska, woke up to blaring weather sirens and widespread power outages as torrential rain, strong winds and large hail hit the area .

More than 10,000 customers lost power in and around Omaha early Tuesday, and the deluge of more than 5 inches of rain in less than two hours in some areas saw basements flooded and cars submerged in the low areas. That downpour, combined with rain earlier in the night, brought the total to 8 inches in the area, according to the National Weather Service.

Television station KETV showed video of several vehicles being overtaken by water on a low-lying street in north-central Omaha and firefighters arriving to rescue those inside.

Although authorities have not confirmed the presence of tornadoes in the area, reports have confirmed hurricane-force winds, said weather service meteorologist Becky Kern.

“We measured a 90 mph gust in Columbus,” Kern said. Columbus is approximately 87 miles west of Omaha.

Chris Bruin, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, said the storms would likely intensify as the night progressed and produce “more destructive tornadoes.”

Tornado watches were also in place in southern Missouri and Arkansas, but Bruin predicted that Iowa would likely see “the bulk of the worst conditions.”

Parts of Illinois and Minnesota were also at risk of severe weather, with conditions expected to worsen Tuesday evening as well. The Chicago metro area could experience wind gusts up to 75 mph, with possible tornado activity, according to David Yeomans and Albert Ramon, CBS Chicago meteorologists.

A dust storm near Bloomington in central Illinois forced Illinois State Police to close portions of Interstate 55 and Interstate 74 earlier Tuesday, CBS Chicago reported. Anyone caught in the storm was advised to stop and turn off their lights.

The weather service also issued tornado warnings for parts of southern Minnesota.

The storms follow days of extreme weather that ravaged much of the center of the country. High winds, large hail and tornadoes swept through parts of Oklahoma and Kansas Sunday evening, damaging homes and injuring two in Oklahoma.

Another round of storms Monday evening swept through Colorado and western Nebraska and saw the town of Yuma, Colorado, covered in hail the size of baseballs and golf balls , transforming the streets into rivers of water and ice. Residents cleaned up Tuesday using heavy construction equipment and snow shovels to remove knee-deep ice.

The storm in Yuma shattered vehicle windshields, hit building siding and shattered many windows. Heavy rain also hit the town of about 3,500 people about 40 miles (65 km) west in Nebraska, stranding some cars on the streets. The hail was still about a half-foot thick Tuesday morning and front-end loaders were used to move it, said Curtis Glenn, a trustee of the Yuma Methodist Church, which was damaged by flooding and hail .

Glenn, an insurance claims adjuster, said the combined sounds of hail, rain and wind sounded like “a gun going off while you’re on a train.”

“It’s not something you’d ever want to see or see again,” he said of the storm, the worst he’s experienced in his years working in the insurance industry.

Last week, Deadly storms hit the Houston area in Texas, killing at least seven people. These storms on Thursday knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people for days, leaving these Texans in the dark and without air conditioning in hot, humid weather. Hurricane-force winds reduced businesses and other structures to debris and broken glass in downtown skyscrapers.