Five people died and at least 35 were injured when powerful tornadoes ripped through Iowa on Tuesday, with one wreaking havoc in the town of Greenfield, officials said.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety said Wednesday that four people were killed in the Greenfield area. Authorities have not released the names of those killed in the storm because they are still notifying next of kin.
The figures released Wednesday bring the total death toll to five, after authorities previously announced that a woman in a vehicle was killed by a tornado about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Greenfield. The Iowa Department of Public Safety said Wednesday it believed the number of people injured was likely higher.
The Greenfield tornado left a wide swath of destroyed homes, splintered trees and crumpled cars in the town of 2,000 located about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) southwest of Des Moines. The tornado also destroyed and crumpled huge wind turbines producing electricity several kilometers from the city.
Greenfield resident Kimberly Ergish, 33, and her husband searched the debris field that was once their home Wednesday, looking for family photos and other salvageable items. There wasn’t much left, she admitted.
“We can’t save most of it,” she said. But we will salvage what we can. »
She says she doesn’t yet realize the fact that her house was destroyed in seconds.
“If it weren’t for all the bumps and bruises and sore bones, I would think this didn’t happen,” she said.
Later Tuesday, the storms moved eastward into parts of Illinois and Wisconsin, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers in both states.
Severe weather turned south Wednesday and the National Weather Service issued tornado and flash flood warnings in Texas as parts of the state — including Dallas — were under a tornado watch.
A total of 859 tornadoes in 2024
The National Weather Service said initial surveys indicated at least one EF-3 tornado in Greenfield, but additional damage assessment could lead to a more powerful rating.
The deadly tornado appeared to be on the ground for more than 40 miles, said AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jon Porter. A satellite photo taken by BlackSky Technology shows where the tornado carved a nearly straight path of destruction through the city, just south of Greenfield’s central plaza.
The tornado occurred during a historically bad season for tornadoes in the United States, at a time when climate change is increasing the severity of storms around the world. April saw the second highest number of tornadoes ever recorded in the country.
Through Tuesday, there have been 859 confirmed tornadoes this year, or 27% more than the U.S. sees on average, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. So far, Iowa has had the most, with 81 confirmed tornadoes.
On Tuesday alone, the National Weather Service said it received 23 reports of tornadoes, most in Iowa, one in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota.
The tornado that decimated parts of Greenfield brought to life the worst-case scenario in Iowa that meteorologists feared, Porter said.
“The debris was lifted thousands of feet into the air and eventually fell to the ground several counties away from Greenfield. This shows how intense and deadly this tornado was,” he said.
Clutter and chaos
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the FEMA administrator would visit Iowa on Thursday and that the White House was in contact with state and local officials.
The 25-bed Greenfield Hospital was among the damaged buildings, and at least a dozen injured people had to be evacuated to other facilities. Hospital officials said in a Facebook post Wednesday that the hospital will remain closed until it can be further evaluated and that full repairs could take weeks or even months.
The hospital, with help from other providers, has set up an urgent care clinic at an elementary school with primary care services beginning Thursday, the post said.
Residential streets that on Monday were lined with century-old trees and well-appointed ranch-style homes were a chaotic jumble of splintered and broken remains on Wednesday. Many basements of the homes where residents were housed were exposed, and front yards were littered with items ranging from furniture to children’s toys and Christmas decorations.
Tuesday’s destructive weather also brought flooding and power outages in Nebraska, tornado damage in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and dust storms in Illinois that forced the closure of two highways.
The devastation in Iowa follows days of extreme weather that ravaged much of the central part of the country, including Oklahoma and Kansas. Last week, deadly storms hit the Houston area, killing at least eight people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands.