Tornado outbreak batters Iowa. Small town of Minden smashed for second time in 50 years

Spring storms helping to quench Iowa's long drought came at a high cost this weekend as multiple tornadoes swept across southwest, south and central Iowa, destroying trees and homes.

Especially hard hit was the Pottawatomie County town of Minden, where four people were injured and few structures were left untouched by a Friday afternoon twister. The same town of 600, about 30 miles northeast of Omaha, had been devastated by a tornado in June 1976.

Other cities struck Friday in Iowa included Pleasant Hill in the Des Moines metro, Creston in Union County, and Tingley and Redding just to the south in Ringgold County.

The National Weather Service said damage also was reported in Jasper and Crawford counties, and WOWT-TV reported damage near Pacific Junction in far western Iowa. The weather service said surveys to determine the extent of the damage would take "a few days."

The weather service estimated that at least 10 tornadoes had touched down in central Iowa, with more along the state's western border.

Across the Missouri River, numerous tornadoes were reported in the Omaha area, with the suburban cities of Elkhorn and Blair, Nebraska, suffering severe damage.

The National Weather Service said the large storm that struck Elkhorn appeared to have originated north of Lincoln, Nebraska, reaching an area near the west Iowa town of Soldier, a distance of at least 100 miles, before dissipating.

KETV reported a tornado also hit the general aviation building at Eppley Airfield, with people in the main terminal at Omaha's airport ushered to shelters before flights could resume.

No deaths were reported in either Iowa or Nebraska. Heavy weather also was affecting Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming.

The weather service had forecast the severe storms well in advance and broadcast multiple warnings as they formed. Across metro Des Moines on Friday, thousands of residents repeatedly took shelter as warning sirens and cell phone alerts blared throughout the evening.

More potentially heavy weather was expected into Sunday. As of Saturday afternoon, a tornado watch was in effect for much of the region south of Des Moines, as was a flood watch in anticipation of more heavy rain.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday evening declared a disaster for Pottawatomie County, making available grants of up to $5,000 for households with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level for home and car repairs, replacement of clothing and food and temporary housing expenses.

Close call for grandfather in Minden reminiscent of 1976 tornado there

Outside Minden on Saturday, law enforcement officials blocked entry to the town as workers in neon-green vests walked the streets, clearing the mess left by the tornado.

Though the storm damaged about 120 structures and left residents displaced, two Red Cross shelters opened to serve them had proven unnecessary, Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Agency officials said, as most storm victims found shelter with family and friends,

And although four people in town were hurt, officials said three had been released from hospitals by Saturday afternoon and the fourth was listed in stable condition.

Gov. Kim Reynolds posted on X that she had toured the damage.

"The people of Iowa are coming together, just like we always do, to help one another," she wrote.

Austin Ehlers, a firefighter in Persia, a city about 15 minutes from Minden, said the tornado demolished his grandfather’s home.

“He lives just outside of Minden, right in the path where the tornado took,” Ehlers said. “After we cleared everything in Persia, we hopped in the trucks and went to Minden and helped. I found out my grandpa’s house was completely gone, and he’s basically lost everything.”

Ehlers’ family was reeling from the loss.

“This morning it was just trying to figure where you start with something this bad,” he said. “You just look at it and you don’t even know where to start. We got to make sure everyone is safe, get a good game plan and worry about everything else after that.”

Fortunately, he said, his grandfather was uninjured.

“He told me he just got into the basement and was getting ready to shut the door when all his windows shattered and glass was hitting him in the back,” he said. “It was close. Real close.”

His account echoed those of people who survived the tornado that hit the town nearly 50 years ago.

The Des Moines Register reported that when the 1976 tornado touched down, many residents were at a town carnival and sought refuge in a dance hall.

The building collapsed, but none of those inside were hurt. Likewise, people who huddled inside the town tap escaped unharmed despite the building losing its roof.

WOWT reported the tornado that hit Minden on Friday had been on the ground for nearly 40 miles, leaving a string of other damage along the way.

In metro Des Moines, tornado leaves 20 Pleasant Hill homes damaged

Around 9 p.m. Friday, another tornado touched down just west of Pleasant Hill.

Fire Chief Jamie Xayavong said 20 homes were damaged, with 18 left uninhabitable, and one person suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Polk County officials asked for monetary donations to the Polk County and Greater Des Moines Community Foundation disaster recovery fund at desmoinesfoundation.org/nonprofit-resources/disaster-recovery-fund.

In Creston, the storm damaged portions of the roof as well as windows and the main entrance of the Homestead Assisted Living facility on the west side of town. A residence also was damaged.

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, whose district includes Creston, embarked for southern Iowa on Saturday to meet with officials and residents in the area.

“Iowa just emerged from a horrible event that occurred many of our communities last night. In fact, we're headed down to Union County next to help take care of Creston and the communities that were impacted by horrible storms and tornadoes that ravaged the state of Iowa,” he said at a campaign event Saturday morning.

“Our prayers not only are with Minden but those communities in Nebraska where we've flown flight operations out of. They're just decimated. And so this morning as we think about what we need to do, it should always be about how do we help those communities in need.”

Tornadoes on Friday stronger than those April 16, weather service says

There was no official ratings of the storms' strength on Saturday, but Brooke Hagenhoff, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the system had been more severe than one that struck Iowa April 16.

That system left scattered damage to structures including three agricultural buildings in northern Dallas County.

Chris Franks, a weather service meteorologist based in Nebraska, said roughly three tornadoes originated in Omaha and traveled into Iowa.

“Right now, it's pretty good to estimate that three tornadoes that came from Nebraska, or very near the Iowa Nebraska line, and then crossed into Iowa,” Franks said. “I will caveat that the damage surveys are still on very much ongoing, in fact, there's a lot of a lot of damage to survey.”

Staff writers Courtney Crowder, Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez and Brianne Pfannenstiel contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Tornadoes batter large swaths of Iowa as damage totals mount