Storms that tore through much of Nebraska with heavy rain, strong winds and large hail spawned a fierce tornado that toppled several 250-foot wind turbines in Iowa on Tuesday.
KCCI-TV, a CBS affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa, showed an apparent tornado in southwest Iowa toppling at least three wind turbines and at least one engulfed in flames with black smoke billowing from the bent structure.
CBS News obtained dramatic video captured by tornado chasers in Adams County, Iowa. The video showed a home being destroyed by a tornado as debris swirled.
Ben McHone / LSM
Iowa State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Alex Dinkla said several people were injured in Greenfield, about 2,000 miles southwest of Des Moines, and there was significant damage to the town. He did not know the extent of his injuries.
The Adair County Health System hospital in Greenfield sustained damage from the storm, but Mercy One spokesman Todd Mizener said he had no further details. The hospital is affiliated with Mercy One, and officials were on their way to Greenfield to assess the damage.
As of Tuesday night, more than 41,000 homes and businesses were without power in Iowa, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
In southwestern Iowa, video posted on social media showed a tornado developing northwest of Red Oak. Farther east and north, the National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings for areas near Griswold, Corning, Fontanelle and Guthrie Center.
Iowans were already bracing for severe weather after the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center said much of the state was likely to see severe thunderstorms with the potential for strong tornadoes. Des Moines public schools ended classes two hours early and canceled all evening activities before the storm hit.
This morning, residents west of Omaha, Nebraska, woke up to sirens blaring and widespread power outages as heavy rain, strong winds and large hail lashed the area.
More than 10,000 customers lost power around Omaha early Tuesday, and in some areas more than 5 inches of rain fell in less than two hours, flooding basements and submerging cars in low-lying areas. This heavy rain, combined with rain early in the night, brought total snowfall in the region to 8 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Television station KETV showed footage of several cars being overtaken by water pouring down low-lying areas in north-central Omaha, and firefighters arriving to rescue people inside.
Bohemian Lumberjack/Storyful
National Weather Service meteorologist Becky Kern said officials had not confirmed whether a tornado had touched down in the area, but reports of hurricane-force winds had been confirmed.
“Wind gusts measured in Columbus were 90 mph,” Kern said. Columbus is about 87 miles west of Omaha.
Chris Bruin, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel, said the storms will likely intensify as the night progresses and “more destructive tornadoes” are likely.
Tornado watches were also in place in Missouri and southern Arkansas, but Bruin predicted Iowa would see “the worst of the mass.”
Parts of Illinois and Minnesota are also under threat of severe weather, and conditions are expected to worsen Tuesday night. Wind gusts up to 75 mph and tornado activity are possible in the Chicago metropolitan area. According to CBS Chicago meteorologists David Yeomans and Albert Ramon.
all sandstorm Near Bloomington in central Illinois, Illinois State Police closed parts of Interstate 55 and Interstate 74 early Tuesday, CBS Chicago reported. Anyone caught in the storm was advised to pull over and turn off their lights.
weather service Tornado warning issued Parts of southern Minnesota. CBS Minnesota meteorologist Joseph Dames forecast eastern Minnesota, including Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area.
The storm follows extreme weather that devastated much of the country’s central region. Strong winds, large hail and tornadoes swept through parts of Oklahoma and Kansas late Sunday, damaging homes and injuring two people in Oklahoma.
Another storm swept across Colorado and western Nebraska on Monday night, leaving the city of Yuma, Colorado, blanketed with hail the size of baseballs and golf balls, turning 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 car windshields, battered building cladding and broke many windows. Heavy rain also stranded several cars on the streets in the city of 3,500 people about 40 miles west of Nebraska. The hail was still about a half-foot deep Tuesday morning, and front-end loaders were used to move it, said Curtis Glenn, director of Yuma Methodist Church. There was flooding and hail damage.
Glenn, an insurance claims adjuster, said the combination of hail, rain and wind sounded like “a gun going off while on a train.”
“It’s not something I want to see or ever see again,” he said of the worst storm he has experienced while working in the insurance industry.
last week, Deadly storm hits Houston area At least seven people have died in Texas. Thursday’s storm knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people for days, leaving Texans in the dark and without air conditioning in hot, humid weather. Hurricane-force winds reduced businesses and other structures to rubble and shattered glass from downtown high-rises.
