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Storms dump heavy rain/hail and destructive winds

News, Weather

June 4th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

Waves of storms moving through western Iowa Tuesday evening into early this (Wednesday) morning, brought destructive winds, hail and heavy rain. The National Weather Service out of Valley, NE. will send a survey team to the Oakland area this morning to assess damage following a possible tornado that may have been responsible for knocking roofs off grain elevators.

The first wave of storms rolled into western Iowa from Nebraska Tuesday afternoon and evening, knocking out power for several hours to more than 5,100 customers of OPPD in Omaha. Mid American Energy reports 2,677 customers were still without power in Council Bluffs this morning.

Damage reports from around the area include downed trees in Council Bluffs, where there were numerous incidents of streets flooding, and water over the hoods of vehicles. In Corning, numerous homes and outbuildings were damaged by falling tree limbs, which also took out power lines not only in Corning, but elsewhere in Adams County. Large hail shattered some windshields in Corning, and damaged a fire department vehicle.

Montgomery County officials say high winds caused extensive damage in the Red Oak area, where several trees fell on vehicles and there were scattered power outages, but no immediate reports of structural damage. Roads across southwest Iowa were temporarily flooded and/or blocked by flood debris last night. In Cass County, there was debris reported between 550th and Victoria Roads, after flood waters crossed in that area.

Thunderstorm winds estimated at 86 miles per hour whipped through an area northeast of Massena Tuesday evening, while ping-pong ball to egg-sized hail pounding the same area. There were also reports of 2-to 3-foot diameter tree limbs crashing to the ground in Massena as the first wave of storms blew through. Street flooding was reported in Griswold for a time Tuesday evening, with water hubcap deep at times.

For a chronological listing of storm reports and damage, go to the Weather page at KJAN.com and scroll through the warnings and other information to find our Storm report.