Violent tornadoes cause multiple deaths, EF4 twister tears path through Greenfield, Iowa
A deadly tornado outbreak has killed several people and caused major damage in multiple Iowa towns.
As they begin to reckon with the aftermath, Colton and Shaye Newberry explain the terrifying moments when a powerful tornado struck the town of Greenfield, Iowa, obliterating the house where Shaye and their daughter were taking shelter.
Several tornadoes ripped a path of destruction across Iowa Tuesday afternoon and evening, leaving several people dead before tearing into parts of Illinois and Wisconsin.
“Sadly, we can confirm that there have been fatalities with this tornado,” Iowa State Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Alex Dinkla said during a news conference later Tuesday evening. He did not provide additional details on the deaths, according to CNN.
A storm chaser was pronounced dead after her car was blown off the road in Corning, the Des Moines Register said.
Drone video showed massive destruction in Greenfield, about 50 miles southwest of Des Moines, on Tuesday evening.
“There is basically nothing left,” Clel Baudler, a former Iowa state representative who lives a half mile from Greenfield, told CNN. “It went right through Greenfield.”
The Greenfield tornado has been rated EF4 strength by the National Weather Service in Des Moines, with the office noting that "further refinement is possible in the days to come."
Rogue Paxton told WOI-TV he sheltered in the basement of his home when the storm moved through, and although the house was lost, his family got lucky.
“But everyone else is not so much, like my brother Cody, his house just got wiped,” Paxton said. “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.”
At least one other storm-related death occurred in Adams County, Iowa, about 90 miles southwest of Des Moines.
In addition to a possible tornado tearing into the town of Red Oak, Iowa, another suspected tornado was captured on camera just before 5:00 p.m. as it moved across a highway and ripped through farmland in Stanton, Iowa.
AccuWeather meteorologist Tony Laubach was on the scene as the tornado crossed US-34 near Stanton. He also shot a video of the Stanton twister and the damage it caused to at least one home.
Storm chaser Brandon Clement captured this video of a tornado spinning into Red Oak, Iowa, on the afternoon of May 21.
Several wind turbines were destroyed by a tornado near Prescott, Iowa, on Tuesday afternoon, with one storm chaser showing the destruction live. One turbine fell to the ground on fire.
According to poweroutage.us, as of Wednesday afternoon, at least 24,000 people were without power in Wisconsin and down to 11,000 in Iowa and Illinois.
A strong tornado turned part of an Iowa wind farm into flaming piles of debris, as this drone video from storm chaser Brandon Clement captures.
In a news release, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds authorized a proclamation of disaster emergency for 15 counties, saying it will allow state resources “to respond to and recover from the effects of the severe weather.”
Reynolds plans to visit Greenfield on Wednesday to assess damage from the severe weather. “I am committed to providing the full resources of the state to support the response and recovery effort,” she said.
AccuWeather’s Jonathan Porter joined Bernie Rayno on the AccuWeather Network on May 22 to discuss a tornado outbreak in the central U.S.
