By The Associated Press
Published: May. 23, 2024 at 1:54 PM EDT|Updated: 3 hours ago
GREENFIELD, Iowa (AP) — For block after block through the small city of Greenfield, Iowa, the destructive power of a tornado that ripped apart more than 100 of the town’s homes in just one minute is evident in the muddy, shattered mess left behind.
All along the mile-long swath Thursday was the deafening clamor of heavy equipment scooping up the splintered homes, smashed vehicles and shredded trees. But on either side of that path, picturesque houses and lawns seem untouched, and one might be hard-pressed to believe a twister spinning at more than 166 mph (267 kph) had ravaged the community of 2,000, killing four people and injuring at least 35.
More than 202 homes weredestroyed by a series of tornadoesthat raked the state on Tuesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday at a news conference. Most were in and around Greenfield. The count does not include businesses or other buildings destroyed or damaged, like Greenfield’s 25-bed hospital.
The havoc spun by the tornado now shows on the faces of people still processing how quickly homes and lives were shattered.
Edith Schaecher, 80, surveyed the cleanup Thursday along her devastated street from a utility vehicle. The home she had lived in for 47 years was destroyed in the tornado. She and a daughter who was visiting from Tennessee sought shelter in a basem*nt concrete shower, holding pillows over their heads to protect from the falling debris.
“It was over within probably 30 seconds,” she said.
They were briefly trapped in the collapsed house until neighbors helped them out. Her son and other family who live on the other side of town saw little to no damage from the storm.
“So I guess I’m the only one. But I guess that’s the way things go,” Schaecher said.
Schaecher’s neighbor, Joan Mitchell, was with her 57-year-old son in the home she’d lived in for 10 years when the tornado roared through.
She had ignored the tornado warnings — until she was knocked to the floor and two recliners flew on top of her.
“I kept praying and praying, and after that I started hollering, ‘Help! Help! Help!’” Mitchell recalled. Both she and her son survived with bumps and bruises.
The governor praised the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response on Thursday as she sought a disaster declaration for multiple counties. After surveying Tuesday’s destruction, the National Weather Service determined that three separate powerful tornados carved paths totaling 130 miles (209.21 kilometers) across Iowa, according to Donna Dubberke, the meteorologist in charge in Des Moines.Colton Newbury, 24, was working in Des Moines when the twister hit, nearly 60 miles (97 kilometers) away from his wife and 10-month-old daughter at their home in Greenfield.
He rushed back only to find their home was “a hole in the ground,” he said. His wife hadn’t heard the sirens. Newbury said his cousin ran out to get his wife and baby, and they rode out the tornado in the cousin’s basem*nt. The winds pulled entire homes away, he said: “About every house on the block, just foundations left.”
Still more severe weather was moving across the Midwest. The weather service’s Storm Prediction Center shows an enhanced severe storm risk late Thursday into Friday morning for much of Nebraska and western Iowa, including areas where tornadoes hit Iowa and hurricane-force winds, large hail and torrential rain flooded streets and basem*nts in Nebraska.
This latest band of severe weather — including possible tornadoes — will hit Iowa “when people are sleeping,” warned NWS meteorologist Andrew Ansorge of Des Moines.
“A lot of these people have already experienced damage to their homes and property that might be hit again with rain and wind. Because of the damage already there, it won’t take much wind to inflict even more damage on these homes,” Ansorge said. “It’s just a bad deal all the way around.”
More severe weather also could hit Saturday and Sunday in storm-damaged parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. An emergency was declared in Temple, Texas, after powerful storms ripped through the city of more than 90,000. Thousands lost power, Thursday’s classes were canceled and nearby Fort Cavazos reported debris blocking traffic at the Army installation.
Before Tuesday’s twister in Greenfield, this year’s deadliest tornado was the one thatkilled three peoplein Logan County, Ohio on March 14. TheGreenfield tornado set a new grim recordas it obliterated homes andcrumpled massive power-producing wind turbinesoutside the city.
The twister was initially rated an EF-3, but National Weather Service investigators said Thursday they have identified EF-4 damage within Greenfield and areas of southern Adair County.
It was so destructive that it took authorities more than a day to account for the area’s residents, and Iowa’s Department of Public Safety said the number of injured is likely even higher. Officials haven’t yet released the names of the Greenfield victims.
A fifth person was killed Tuesday about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Greenfield when her car was blown off the road in a tornado, according to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. Monica Zamarron, 46, died in the crash Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
Reynolds has requested an expedited presidential disaster declaration for those Iowa counties that sustained significant damage. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell joined her at the news conference in Greenfield and said that her agency will process the request as quickly as possible to get resources — which could include funding for temporary housing — to those left without homes.
This is a historically busy tornado season in the U.S., in an era whenclimate changeis heightening the severity of storms around the world. April had the country’ssecond-highest number of tornadoeson record.
Through Tuesday, 859 tornadoes had been confirmed this year, 27% more than the U.S. sees on average, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Iowa has recorded the most, with 81 confirmed twisters.
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Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; and Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri, contributed.
Digging through a debris field that used to be their home in Greenfield, Kimberly Ergish and her husband searched for family photos and other salvageable items. There wasn’t much left. The reality of having their house destroyed in seconds hadn’t really set in.
“If it weren’t for all the bumps and bruises and the achy bones, I would think that it didn’t happen,” Ergish said.
This is a historically busy tornado season in the U.S., in an era when climate change is heightening the severity of storms around the world. April had the country’s second-highest number of tornadoes on record.
Through Tuesday, 859 tornadoes had been confirmed this year, 27% more than the U.S. sees on average, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Iowa has so far recorded the most, with 81 confirmed twisters.
On Tuesday alone, the National Weather Service said it received 23 tornado reports, with 21 in Iowa.
The Greenfield tornado appeared to have been on the ground for more than 40 miles (64 kilometers), AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said. A satellite photo taken by a BlackSky Technology shows where the twister gouged a nearly straight path of destruction through the town, just south of Greenfield’s center square.
“Debris was lifted thousands of feet in the air and ended up falling to the ground several counties away from Greenfield. That’s evidence of just how intense and deadly this tornado was,” Porter said.
About 90 miles (145 kilometers) away, in Ames, Iowa, Nicole Banner found a yellowed page declaring “This Book is the Property of the Greenfield Community School District” stuck to her garage door like a Post-It note. “We just couldn’t believe it had traveled that far,” she said.
Greenfield’s 25-bed hospital was so damaged that at least a dozen injured people had to be taken elsewhere. Hospital officials said in a Facebook post Wednesday that they’ll remain closed and full repairs could take months. Meanwhile, an urgent care clinic was set up at the elementary school, with primary care services to start there Thursday, the post said.
Roseann Freeland had waited until the last minute to rush with her husband to a concrete room in their basem*nt. Seconds after the twister passed, they opened the door “and you could just see daylight,” Freeland said. “I just lost it. I just totally lost it.”
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Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski and Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; and Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri, contributed.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
