Workers search through the remains of a property damaged by tornado Tuesday in Greenfield, Iowa.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
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Charlie Neibergall/AP
Workers search through the remains of a property damaged by tornado Tuesday in Greenfield, Iowa.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
GREENFIELD, Iowa — Several people died Tuesday and at least a dozen were injured when a powerful tornado ripped through a small Iowa town, carving a dark landscape of destroyed homes and businesses, torn trees, broken cars and widely scattered debris.
The tornado destroyed much of Greenfield, a town of about 2,000 located about 55 miles southwest of Des Moines, during a day marked by several tornadoes, giant hail and heavy rain in several states.
“We have confirmed fatalities,” said Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla said during a press conference Tuesday evening. He said authorities were still determining the total number, but believed they had accounted for everyone in the city.
Dinkla said there were at least a dozen injured amid widespread devastation in Greenfield, including at the small community hospital. Patients had to be transferred to other facilities in neighboring towns.
Authorities said they would only allow residents into Greenfield until Wednesday morning and ordered media representatives to leave town Tuesday evening.
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.
Rogue Paxton said he took shelter in the basement of his home when the storm passed. He told WOI-TV he thought the house was lost, but his family was lucky.
“But not everyone is so happy, like my brother Cody, his house was just destroyed,” Paxton said. “Then you see all these people here helping each other. … It’s going to be OK because we have each other, but it’s going to be really, really difficult. It’s a disaster.”
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 (88.5 km/h). They also lock their blades and feather them, and turn into the wind to minimize tension.
The remains of a wind turbine damaged by a tornado touch the ground in a field Tuesday near Prescott, Iowa.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
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The remains of a wind turbine damaged by a tornado touch the ground in a field Tuesday near Prescott, Iowa.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
The city presents itself as “the friendly wave as you walk”, with tree-lined streets – before the storm – and “the crackle of fireworks or the twinkle of lights” on special holidays. Also billing itself as “the perfect place to grow,” Greenfield prides itself on being a city where business owners know your name and neighbors helping neighbors, according to its visitors page.
Mary Long, owner of Long’s Market in downtown Greenfield, said she weathered the storm at her business on the community’s historic square, which largely escaped damage. Long said there appeared to be widespread damage in the east and south sides of the city.
“I could hear this roar, like the proverbial freight train, and then it was done,” she said.
Camille Blair said the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce office where she works closed around 2 p.m. 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.
Storm and tornado warnings spread across Wisconsin Tuesday evening and night, including a warning for the state capital, Madison.
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 . The flood flooded basements and submerged cars. KETV showed firefighters arriving to rescue people from vehicles.
In Illinois, dust storms forced authorities to close sections of two highways due to low visibility. Wind gusts between 35 mph (56 kph) and 45 mph (74 kph) hit the McLean area, according to meteorologist Chuck Schaffer of the National Weather Service.
“Sometimes there is no visibility,” state police said on the X social media platform.
The storms follow days of extreme weather that ravaged much of the central part 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 night 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. Front-end loaders were used Tuesday to move hail as deep as half a foot (1.83 meters deep).
Last week, deadly storms hit the Houston, Texas, area, killing at least eight 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. The death total was increased Tuesday by seven to include a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning while running a generator after a power outage. Hurricane-force winds reduced businesses and other structures to debris and broken glass in downtown skyscrapers.
Tuesday’s storms are expected to bring much of the same high winds, heavy rain and large hail to Minnesota and part of northern Missouri, said Bob Oravec, chief forecaster for the National Weather Service.
He said the system is expected to move south on Wednesday, bringing more severe weather to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri.
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