Severe weather continued eastward, wreaking devastation on an Iowa town with a devastating tornado.
Following what authorities called a “devastating” tornado that devastated rural villages and left an undetermined number of people dead, Central Iowa was left in disbelief on Wednesday morning.
A number of deaths were reported on Tuesday in the town of Greenfield, which is roughly 2,000 people and 40 miles southwest of Des Moines, according to Iowa State Police.
Tuesday saw the addition of 18 tornado warnings throughout Iowa, along with one each in Wisconsin and Minnesota, to an already extraordinarily active tornado season.
At least 12 persons received medical attention, according to Sergeant Alex Dinkla during a news conference; however, Adair County Memorial Hospital in the city sustained damage as well, necessitating the relocation of casualties.
According to the National Weather Service, severe weather is likely to move from the Midwest to the southern plains and Mississippi Valley on Wednesday. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas are forecast to see significant wind damage, huge hail, and maybe tornadoes.
Severe weather is a concern for over 44 million people, spanning from Texas to upstate New York. Eight million people are under a flood watch, including the Dallas metro region, where more than three inches of rain are expected by this afternoon and tonight.
Through Thursday, the threat will still be present for roughly 20 million people from Memphis to New England.
Shot late on Tuesday, aerial imagery of Greenfield revealed entire streets reduced to ruin, with mountains of debris scattered among downed trees and totaled vehicles.
A person in the neighboring Montgomery County town of Red Oak was able to film a huge funnel cloud in the middle of a downpour with sirens going off.
According to Montgomery County Emergency Management, at least 28 residences were determined to have sustained damage from tornadoes, ranging from minor damage to total destruction.
Wind turbines at Prescott, Iowa, stood abandoned and in ruins. Extreme weather conditions in Nevada, Iowa, caused gusts so strong that a semi-truck that had stopped on the roadway was overturned. Thankfully, there were no reported casualties in this occurrence.
Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa issued a disaster declaration for fifteen counties and was due to visit the region on Wednesday.
The weather agency stated that it will send three teams from its Des Moines office to assess the tornado damage because the situation in Iowa is so bad. Results are anticipated by Wednesday night.
Large hail broke car windows and damaged building facades in Colorado elsewhere today.Some hailstones, according to Denver-based 99news affiliate KUSA, were the size of baseballs.
Massive floods caused by four to eight inches of rain in Omaha, Nebraska, swept away cars and trapped several people.
