Catherine Rusoff
Storms that pummeled much of Nebraska with torrential rain, high winds and large hail spawned violent tornadoes Tuesday that toppled several 250-foot wind turbines in Iowa.
CBS affiliate KCCI-TV in Des Moines, Iowa, showed at least three wind turbines that had been toppled by an apparent tornado in southwest Iowa, and at least one was on fire with black smoke pouring from the bent structure.
CBS News obtained dramatic video captured by a tornado hunter in Adams County, Iowa, that showed a home being destroyed by a tornado, with debris swirling.
Ben McHone/LSM
Iowa State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Alex Dinkla said several people were injured in Greenfield, a town of about 3,000 about 55 miles southwest of Des Moines, and there was extensive damage in the town. He did not know the extent of the injuries.
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 authorities were on their way to Greenfield to assess the damage.
As of Tuesday night, more than 41,000 homes and businesses in Iowa were without power, according to PowerOutage.us utility tracker.
In far southwestern Iowa, video posted on social media showed a tornado just northwest of Red Oak. Farther east and north, the National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings for areas near the cities 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 in the day, residents west of Omaha, Nebraska, woke up to weather sirens blaring and widespread power outages as torrential rain, high winds and heavy hail battered the area.
More than 10,000 customers lost power in and around Omaha on Tuesday morning, and the deluge of more than 5 inches of rain in less than two hours in some areas caused basements to be flooded and cars submerged in low-lying areas. That torrential downpour, combined with rain earlier in the evening, brought the total to 8 inches across the region, according to the National Weather Service.
Television station KETV showed videos of several vehicles overtaken by rushing water on a low-lying street in north-central Omaha and firefighters arriving to rescue the people inside.
Bohemian/Historical Lumberjack
While authorities have not confirmed tornadoes in the area, there have been confirmed reports of hurricane-force winds, Weather Service meteorologist Becky Kern said.
“We have a 90 mph gust measured in Columbus,” 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 produce “more destructive tornadoes.”
Tornado watches were also in effect south of Missouri and Arkansas, but Bruin predicted that Iowa would likely see “most of the worst conditions.”
Parts of Illinois and Minnesota were also under threat of severe weather, and conditions were also expected to worsen Tuesday night. The Chicago metro area could see wind gusts of up to 75 mph, with possible tornado activity, according to CBS Chicago meteorologists David Yeomans and Albert Ramon.
A sand storm near Bloomington in central Illinois forced Illinois State Police to close portions of Interstate 55 and Interstate 74 on Tuesday, CBS Chicago reported. Anyone caught in the storm was advised to pull over and turn off their lights.
The meteorological service also issued tornado warnings to parts of southern Minnesota. CBS Minnesota meteorologist Joseph Dames predicted that eastern Minnesota – including Minneapolis – St. Paul Metro.
The storms follow days of extreme weather that devastated much of the country’s central region. High winds, hail and tornadoes swept through parts of Oklahoma and Kansas on Sunday night, damaging homes and injuring two people in Oklahoma.
Another round of storms Monday night swept through Colorado and western Nebraska and saw the city of Yuma, Colorado, covered in 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 clear knee-deep ice that had accumulated.
The storm in Yuma broke vehicle windshields, destroyed building walls and broke many windows. It also brought heavy rain to the town of about 3,500 people, about 40 miles west of Nebraska, leaving some cars stranded on the streets. The hail was still about two feet deep Tuesday morning and front-end loaders were used to move it, said Curtis Glenn, trustee of the Yuma Methodist Church, which experienced 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 want to see or see again,” he said of the storm, the worst he’s seen in his years working in the insurance industry.
Last week, deadly storms hit the Houston area in Texas, killing at least seven. Thursday’s storms knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people for days, leaving Texans in the dark and without air conditioning during the hot, humid weather. Hurricane-force winds reduced businesses and other structures to rubble and shattered glass in downtown skyscrapers.
