Emergency officials are confirming that four people were killed in Tuesday's tornado that devastated portions of Greenfield, a town of 2,000 people in southwest Iowa.
At least 35 people were injured in the storm based on the number of people treated at designated treatment sites, although authorities say the actual number is likely higher. According to a statement from the Iowa Department of Public Safety, at least 14 people were taken out of Adair County to have their injuries treated because the local hospital was damaged.
Residents in Greenfield spent the day Wednesday cleaning up debris from dozens of homes leveled by the storm. In parts of town whole blocks of homes were torn down to their foundations. Electric crews were working on rebuilding power lines while workers in skid steers cleared debris so that people could see what was left behind.
Michelle Lund says when the tornado crashed into her home she was clamoring to get her four kids and two dogs to safety.
"My husband got all the kids to the back room and the dog got out, so I was trying to chase the dog and we looked outside and you could see debris swirling," said Lund, pausing from picking through debris. "We literally just jumped on top of the kids, and it was done. It was that fast."
After touring the damage, Gov. Kim Reynolds called it “gut-wrenching.” She thanked weather forecasters for their early warning on the timing of the storms.
"Based on the early, advanced notice that we were able to get, many of our schools got those kids out of school early," she said. "And it hit here at 3 p.m., so that would have been the time that the kids would have been on the bus and heading home, and it would have been devastating."
She said the destruction reminded her of a storm that hit Minden in western Iowa less than a month ago.
"That was horrific, and I think there’s even more debris and more impacted here," she said. "It is just horrific, it’s hard to describe."
Officials were careful to confirm the number of people who died in the storm and their names have been withheld until their families are notified. Reynolds says they wanted to complete search-and-rescue efforts and locate anyone who may have been caught in the path of the storm.
"We’re looking to make sure all residents are accounted for," Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Alex Dinkla told reporters Wednesday morning. "When we have this many homes that have been destroyed and just fully demolished, we want to make sure every resident, every person, is accounted for.”
Greenfield’s hospital was damaged. Several people were flown from Greenfield to hospitals as far away as Des Moines.
After the storm first hit, a local lumberyard was turned into a triage center, according to State Rep. Ray Sorensen of Greenfield. Sorensen drove into town just after the storm hit and found others already helping residents get to safety.
"Everybody became little makeshift ambulances," Sorensen said. "We pulled a guy from the rubble, put him on a little makeshift stretcher that we made, put him in the back of a truck of a guy who’s not even from Iowa and we just made our way to the lumberyard which was the makeshift hospital."
Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for 15 counties Tuesday night, including Adair, activating state resources for the storm cleanup. She says the state is working with federal officials to speed up a presidential disaster declaration, which would free up support for local residents and businesses through FEMA.
This story was updated at 8:35 p.m. on May 22, 2024.
