Millions across the Great Plains to the Midwest were under tornado threats on Tuesday. In Iowa, multiple tornadoes touched down near Des Moines, causing significant damage.
A “devastating” tornado struck Greenfield, Iowa, southwest of Des Moines, resulting in fatalities and injuries, according to Sgt. Alex Dinkla of the Iowa State Patrol during a news conference Tuesday night.
Despite sustaining tornado damage, the Adair County Memorial Hospital team, which serves Greenfield, managed to treat patients and transport some to nearby hospitals for further care, Dinkla reported.
Officials conducted search efforts Tuesday night to provide an accurate count of those affected. “We believe we have everyone accounted for, but we are conducting extensive searches to be thorough,” Dinkla said.
The National Weather Service had issued tornado watches for parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, and Oklahoma through Tuesday night.
Nearly the entire state of Iowa was under a “Particularly Dangerous Situation,” with several tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds authorized a proclamation of disaster emergency for 15 counties across the state on Tuesday.
The affected counties include Adair, Adams, Cass, Clay, Hardin, Harrison, Jasper, Kossuth, Marshall, Montgomery, Page, Palo Alto, Pottawattamie, Tama, and Warren.
WOI reporter Dana Searles, surveying the damage in Des Moines, noted, “This small community has a big chunk destroyed, but about half of it is still intact. From what I’ve seen, I’d estimate that maybe 75% of it is near to the ground right now.”
Damaging winds between 70 to 90 mph were forecasted for Des Moines, Chicago, and Milwaukee from Tuesday afternoon into the evening.
Severe weather has taken hold across the Great Plains and the Midwest, with over 100 severe storms reported on Monday from Colorado to Michigan.
On Monday, at least three tornadoes were reported in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Colorado, though they did not cause significant damage.
In Yuma, located in northeast Colorado, hail ranging from golf ball to softball size pummeled the area, damaging cars and buildings. At one point, the hail was so deep it caused multiple vehicles to get stuck, JJ Unger, a volunteer Yuma firefighter, told ABC News on Tuesday.
“It was like a blizzard hitting for a half hour because of the hail,” Unger said. “That’s the longest I’ve seen it hail like that.”
Unger and his fire crew were out spotting for possible tornadoes Monday evening when lightning struck, and hail began to pour. “It was very intense,” Unger said, adding that they had to pull over and seek shelter as visibility dropped to almost zero.
When the hail finally let up, a foot of hail covered Unger’s fire engine and the roads in the area. The windshields of his pickup truck and his wife’s vehicle were shattered.
“Almost every home in town has broken windows and I’ve heard that over a thousand cars were damaged,” Unger reported.
In Nebraska, hail measuring two inches in diameter fell in Dundy County, located in the southwest corner of the state, according to local emergency management officials. Winds exceeding 90 mph were also reported in Dundy County.
Severe weather is expected to continue through Thursday across the Great Plains and Midwest, while potential record heat is moving into Texas and the Northeast. Temperatures could approach 90 degrees in Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, D.C., by midweek.
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