A tornado in Iowa destroyed homes and businesses in a small town, killing multiple people and injuring dozens, The Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday.
The tornado, along with hail and heavy rain, felled trees, smashed cars and threw debris across much of Greenfield, a town of 2,000 southwest of Des Moines, according to The AP.
“Sadly, we can confirm that there have been fatalities with this tornado,” Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex. Dinkla said Tuesday night during a news conference. “Also, injuries have been sustained by residents here in the Greenfield area.” (RELATED: Another Day Of Tornadoes Hitting Multiple States)
Tornado devastates Iowa town, killing multiple people as powerful storms rip through Midwest https://t.co/p66LM7rrqV
— Bobby Deskins WTSP ⚡️ (@BobbyWTSP) May 22, 2024
Dinkla added in the press conference that authorities were still working on confirming the number of dead but said all the town’s residents were likely accounted for.
The Adair County Health System announced on Facebook Tuesday night that a triage center had been set up at Greenfield High School for people needing medical attention.
Check out this whip-like vortex in the #tornado south of Greenfield, Iowa with @theScantman on the controls. Full 4K video is on YT WATCH: https://t.co/SQHq4Cwmwg pic.twitter.com/FyBbaHxUuV
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerUSA) May 22, 2024
“What a monster!”
Storm chaser @AaronRigsbyOSC captured video of this enormous tornado at a frighteningly close distance in Carbon, Iowa, on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/c8ZVbVL3Bn
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) May 22, 2024
MY GOODNESS… yet another incredible tornado in Iowa, we got close to this massive stovepipe and didn’t even know there was another beast ongoing just a few miles away. 2024 continues to impress…
FUL VIDEO HERE – https://t.co/0wHzgjoKOu pic.twitter.com/VjrbUra2l2
— Max Olson (@MesoMax919) May 22, 2024
Weighing over 150 tons, this massive wind turbine was reduced to rubble as an extremely powerful & deadly tornado tore through southwestern Iowa on Tuesday.#IAwx pic.twitter.com/uzAPNgrbwT
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) May 22, 2024
Authorities ordered media out of the town Tuesday night and said only Greenfield residents would be allowed in until Wednesday morning, The AP reported.
The tornado left the town strewn with bent, leafless trees, broken wood, car parts and piles of debris where houses were destroyed, according to The AP.
Local resident Rogue Paxton said that he headed to the basement when the storm hit and that his house luckily was not ruined, The AP reported.
#Dog ‘Luna’ was rescued and reunited with her family after deadly #tornado in #Greenfield, #Iowa
📽 ABC 7 Chicago #Animals #AnimalRescue pic.twitter.com/4bdHXnnftD
— ℹ️MiBaWi🇩🇪🇺🇸🇳🇱🇨🇦🇨🇱🇪🇸🇦🇺🇮🇩🇺🇦🇬🇷🚨 (@Michael45231497) May 22, 2024
Small signs of hope in Greenfield. A rainbow in the sky over a basement that was the refuge that saved the lives of two families with young children. #iowa #tornado #Greenfield pic.twitter.com/ihTg1lSvjD
— Jonathan Petramala (@jpetramala) May 22, 2024
“But everyone else is not so much, like my brother Cody, his house just got wiped,” Paxton told WOI-TV. “Then you see all these people out here helping each other. … Everything’s going to be fine because we have each other, but it’s just going to be really, really rough. It is a mess.”
Another local resident, Camille Blair, said, “There’s a pretty significant roof damage to several houses that I know will need whole new roofs,” she said. “And I can see from my house it kind of went in a straight line down the road.”
Deadly storms also hit Texas last week, killing at least eight people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power for days, The AP reported.
