Surprise twisters splinter homes, injure at least 17
DES MOINES, Iowa — Thousands of people were without power Friday after a flurry of unexpected tornadoes swept through central Iowa, injuring at least 17 people and flattening buildings.
The storms surprised even weather forecasters when they hit the region Thursday afternoon, causing extensive damage to a manufacturing plant and prompting the evacuation of a hospital. The National Weather Service said Friday that at least five tornadoes touched down.
In Marshalltown, where 10 people were injured, brick walls collapsed onto streets, roofs were blown off buildings and the cupola of the historic courthouse tumbled to the ground. Seven more people were hurt when a tornado hit a factory in nearby Pella. No deaths were reported.
More than 5,800 customers remained without power in Marshalltown on Friday, and natural gas service was shut down in part of the city, according to Alliant Energy. The utility said crews were dispatched to repair damage and assess which areas can have gas service safely restored.
Forecasting models produced Thursday morning showed only a slight chance of strong thunderstorms later in the day, said Alex Krull, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines.
“It didn’t look like tornadic supercells were possible,” Krull said. “If anything, we were expecting we could get some large hail, if strong storms developed.”
Marshalltown, a city of 27,000 people about 50 miles northeast of Des Moines, appeared to have been hit the hardest.
The main hospital was damaged and all 40 patients at UnityPoint Health were being transferred to the system’s larger hospital in Waterloo and one in Grundy Center, spokeswoman Amy Varcoe said. The emergency room in the smaller Marshalltown hospital remained open to treat patients, Varcoe said.