A powerful tornado ripped through a small Iowa town, killing several people and injuring at least a dozen, authorities said.
Images from the town of Greenfield show a path of total destruction, with homes splintered, rubble strewn everywhere and several large wind turbines toppled.
“This tornado destroyed a large part of this city,” said Sgt. Alex Dinkla, a spokesman for the Iowa State Patrol, during an evening news conference in Greenfield.
“We can confirm that there were multiple fatalities from this tornado.”
Dinkla did not provide a death toll but said it may not be until Wednesday before figures can be provided.
At least a dozen people in Greenfield, a town of about 2,000, were injured in the twister, Dinkla said. Because the local hospital suffered damage during the storm, those people had to be transferred to facilities in nearby towns.
“I've lived here all my life. I just pray that everyone is safe, that everyone is safe and that no one got hurt,” Valerie Warrior, a Greenfield resident, told CBS affiliate KCCI TV in an interview, standing at some of the demolished homes. “It was scary, very scary.”
Other video showed wrecked vehicles and heavy damage to a gas station in Greenfield, the county seat of Adair County, which along with neighboring Adams County appeared to bear the brunt of the Iowa storms in the southwestern corner of the state.
At least one person, an Adams County woman, was listed as a storm-related fatality, said county medical examiner Lisa Brown. She spoke to Reuters by telephone but said she could not yet provide further details.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds declared a state of emergency for 15 counties, including Adair and Adams, making it easy to use state resources to respond to the storm.
Also in Adams County, at least three wind turbines measuring about 25 stories tall were nearly broken in half, with one catching fire, KCCI reported. It said several other wind turbines in Adair County were damaged.
The National Weather Service had issued tornado warnings and severe thunderstorms Tuesday for much of Iowa and several other Midwestern states, including parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Earlier in the day, the weather service confirmed at least one tornado over Rollingstone, Minnesota.