DES MOINES, Iowa – Storms that battered much of Nebraska with torrential rain, high winds and large hail spawned violent tornadoes on Tuesday that toppled several 250-foot wind turbines in Iowa.
Des Moines, Iowa, television station KCCI-TV showed at least three wind turbines that had been toppled by an apparent tornado in southwestern Iowa, and at least one was on fire with black smoke pouring from the bent structure.
Other images posted on social media showed extensive damage in Greenfield, a town of about 2,000 people about 55 miles (88.51 kilometers) southwest of Des Moines.
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 Omaha and surrounding areas 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 (20.23 centimeters) 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.
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 gust of 90 mph (145 km/h) measured in Columbus,” Kern said. Columbus is about 87 miles (140 kilometers) west of Omaha.
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 6 feet deep Tuesday morning and front-end loaders were used to move it, said Curtis Glenn, administrator 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 want to see again,” he said of the storm, the worst he has seen in his years working in the insurance industry.
Last week, deadly storms hit the Houston, Texas area, killing at least seven people. 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.
Tuesday’s storms are expected to bring many of the same strong winds, heavy rains and large hail to Minnesota, Illinois and parts of northern Missouri, said Bob Oravec, chief meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
He said the system is expected to turn south on Wednesday, bringing more severe weather to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri.
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Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.
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