By Hannah Fingerhut, Scott McFetridge and Margery A. Beck
Associated Press
GREENFIELD, Iowa 鈥� Multiple people were killed when a tornado tore through Greenfield and left a wide swath of obliterated homes, crumpled cars and splintered trees, while outside the small Iowa town, massive wind turbines were buckled and twisted to the ground by the howling winds.
After on Tuesday, the storms moved eastward to pummel parts of Illinois and Wisconsin, knocking out power to more than 130,000 customers in the two states.
Greenfield鈥檚 hospital was among the buildings that were damaged in the town, which meant that at least a dozen people who were hurt had to be taken to facilities elsewhere, according to Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla.
鈥淪adly we can confirm that there have been fatalities,鈥� Dinkla said at a news conference Tuesday night, without specifying how many. 鈥淲e鈥檙e still counting at this time.鈥�
He said he thought they had accounted for all of the town鈥檚 residents but that searches would continue if anyone was reported missing. The Adair County Health System said in a Facebook post Tuesday night that it had set up a triage center at the Greenfield high school and that people who need medical attention should go there.
The tornado destroyed much of Greenfield, which is located about 55 miles (90 kilometers) southwest of Des Moines, during a day that saw multiple tornadoes, giant hail and heavy rain in several states.
Authorities announced a mandatory curfew for the town and said they would only allow residents to enter Greenfield until Wednesday morning. They also ordered media representatives to leave the city Tuesday night.
In the aftermath of the storm, mounds of broken wood from homes, branches, car parts and other debris littered lots where homes once stood. Some trees still standing were stripped of their limbs and leaves. Residents helped each other salvage furniture and other belongings that were strewn in every direction.
Rogue Paxton said he sheltered in the basement of his home when the storm moved through. He told WOI-TV he thought the house was lost but said his family got lucky.
鈥淏ut everyone else is not so much, like my brother Cody, his house just got wiped,鈥� Paxton said. 鈥淭hen you see all these people out here helping each other. ... Everything鈥檚 going to be fine because we have each other, but it鈥檚 just going to be really, really rough. It is a mess.鈥�
Multiple tornadoes were reported throughout the state, and one also apparently took down several 250-foot (76-meter) wind turbines in southwest Iowa. Some of the turbines caught fire, sending plumes of smoke into the air. Wind farms are built to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and other powerful winds.
Greenfield bills itself on its website as a 鈥渇riendly wave as you walk鈥� type of place with tree-lined streets 鈥� before the storm 鈥� and as the 鈥減erfect place to grow.鈥�
Mary Long, the owner of Long鈥檚 Market in downtown Greenfield, said she rode out the storm at her business in the community鈥檚 historic town square, which largely escaped damage. Long said there appeared to be widespread damage on the east and south sides of town.
鈥淚 could hear this roaring, like the proverbial freight train, and then it was just done,鈥� she said.
Camille Blair said the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce office where she works closed around 2 p.m. ahead of the storm.
鈥淚 can see from my house it kind of went in a straight line down the road,鈥� she said of the tornado.
Gov. Kim Reynolds said she planned to visit Greenfield on Wednesday morning.
鈥淚t was just a few weeks ago that tornadoes hit several other Iowa communities, and it鈥檚 hard to believe that it鈥檚 happened again,鈥� she said in a statement. 鈥淚owans are strong and resilient, and we will get through this together.鈥�
Iowa had braced for severe weather after the National Weather Service鈥檚 Storm Prediction Center gave most of the state a high chance of seeing severe thunderstorms with the potential for strong tornadoes. The storms and tornado warnings moved into Wisconsin on Tuesday evening and night.
Earlier in the day, residents to the west in Omaha, Nebraska, awoke to sirens blaring and widespread power outages as torrential rain, high winds and large hail pummeled the area. The deluge flooded basements and submerged cars. Television station showed firefighters rescuing people from vehicles.
In Illinois, dust storms led authorities to shut down stretches of two interstates due to low visibility.
The storms followed that have ravaged much of the middle section of the country. Strong winds, large hail and tornadoes swept parts of Oklahoma and Kansas late Sunday, damaging homes and injuring two in Oklahoma.
Another round of storms Monday night raked Colorado and western Nebraska and saw the city of , blanketed in hail the size of baseballs and golf balls, turning streets into rivers of water and ice.
In Texas, hit the Houston area last week, killing at least eight people. Those storms Thursday knocked out power to hundreds of thousands for days, leaving many in the dark and without air conditioning during . Hurricane-force winds reduced businesses and other structures to debris and shattered glass in downtown skyscrapers.
Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service, said the system is expected to turn south Wednesday, bringing more severe weather to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri.