Heartland Hit Hard by Tornadoes and Flooding

This is an EF4 tornado. It was captured in real time by a member of the team headed up by extreme meteorologist and storm chaser Reed Timmer. The video shows the power of the system as it devastated this southwestern Iowa farm and surrounding countryside. 

The twister continued along its route of destruction, moving through a series of wind turbines - shredding the blades and toppling the 245 foot towers. 

One of the areas hardest hit by tornadoes was Greenfield, where a tornado touchdown killed four, injured 35 and destroyed a good portion of the small Iowa community. 

Sgt. Alex Dinkla, Iowa State Patrol: "It is still a search mission as far as we're looking to make sure all residents are accounted for when we have this many homes that have been destroyed and, just fully demolished. We want to make sure that every resident, every person is accounted for."

Debris ranging from cars to furniture to parts of houses was strewn across the countryside. In the hours and days that followed, the citizens of Greenfield worked to recover their belongings, many of which had sentimental value. 

It took more than a day to account for all the residents in the town of 2,000. A fifth person was killed nearby when the car they were driving was blown off the road.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds declared 31 of Iowa’s 99 counties disaster areas, allowing residents to apply for grants that can defer some of their recovery costs.

Through Tuesday, 859 tornadoes have been confirmed this year, 27 percent more than the average, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Iowa has recorded the most in 2024, with 81 confirmed twisters - 21 were part of the storm system that struck at the beginning of the week.

Flash flooding was a problem immediately following the storm. A few places in the Hawkeye State had water over the road stopping traffic well into the next few days. The high water could be seen in some farm fields where corn has already started to emerge.

The same storm system also pummeled parts of Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers. Severe weather also hit sections of Arkansas, damaging buildings and bringing down trees.

Colorado's Eastern Plains felt nature’s wrath as heavy rain, hail and flooding hit the region. Cars were trapped in floodwaters and windshields were smashed under the softball sized hail stones.

Rainfall amounts across the country have ranged anywhere from half an inch in the Northwest to deluges that put seven inches of precipitation on portions of the nation’s midsection. 

A smaller amount of the country remains in some form of drought this week. According to the Drought Mitigation Center, the total percentage of drought across the nation is at its lowest since 2020. The recent rains helped pull the Midwest further out of drought and helped reduce long term soil precipitation deficits.

For Market to Market, I’m David Miller.

contact: miller@iowapbs.org