The destructive tornado that ravaged the town of Greenfield, Iowa, on Tuesday has left four dead and at least 35 injured, the Iowa State Patrol said in a Wednesday evening news release.
Authorities are not releasing the names of the deceased at this time pending next of kin notification. In addition to the fatalities reported in Greenfield, at least one other person was killed as storms passed through nearby Adams County, local officials said earlier.
The Iowa State Patrol said the number of those injured from the Greenfield twister “is likely higher, but these numbers reflect only those patients treated for their injuries at designated alternate care sites.” At least 14 patients were taken to medical facilities outside of the county, the release added.
The tornado that carved through Greenfield – about 50 miles southwest of Des Moines – is estimated to be at least an EF3 and the deadliest of the year.
More than 100 first responders were combing through the wreckage of the town Wednesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said. The city’s hospital sustained damage and some patients were moved to other facilities in surrounding areas. At least four medical airlift flights occurred.
A “makeshift hospital” was set up in the city’s lumberyard Tuesday right after the tornado tracked out of the area, State Rep. Ray Sorensen said Wednesday. Sorensen lives in the area and assisted with recovery efforts in the immediate aftermath.
“We pulled a guy from the rubble and put him on a little makeshift stretcher that we made for him on the back of a truck,” Sorensen recalled.
Video taken by CNN affiliate KCCI shows homes and other structures have been obliterated and the community is blanketed with heaps of debris, tossed cars and uprooted trees.
“It’s horrific,” Reynolds said Wednesday. “It’s hard to describe until you can actually see the devastation.”
As search and rescue efforts continue in the devastated community, there remains another widespread threat for storms to the east.
The destructive tornado that ravaged the town of Greenfield, Iowa, on Tuesday has left four dead and at least 35 injured, the Iowa State Patrol said in a Wednesday evening news release.
Authorities are not releasing the names of the deceased at this time pending next of kin notification. In addition to the fatalities reported in Greenfield, at least one other person was killed as storms passed through nearby Adams County, local officials said earlier.
The Iowa State Patrol said the number of those injured from the Greenfield twister “is likely higher, but these numbers reflect only those patients treated for their injuries at designated alternate care sites.” At least 14 patients were taken to medical facilities outside of the county, the release added.
The tornado that carved through Greenfield – about 50 miles southwest of Des Moines – is estimated to be at least an EF3 and the deadliest of the year.
More than 100 first responders were combing through the wreckage of the town Wednesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said. The city’s hospital sustained damage and some patients were moved to other facilities in surrounding areas. At least four medical airlift flights occurred.
A “makeshift hospital” was set up in the city’s lumberyard Tuesday right after the tornado tracked out of the area, State Rep. Ray Sorensen said Wednesday. Sorensen lives in the area and assisted with recovery efforts in the immediate aftermath.
“We pulled a guy from the rubble and put him on a little makeshift stretcher that we made for him on the back of a truck,” Sorensen recalled.
Video taken by CNN affiliate KCCI shows homes and other structures have been obliterated and the community is blanketed with heaps of debris, tossed cars and uprooted trees.
“It’s horrific,” Reynolds said Wednesday. “It’s hard to describe until you can actually see the devastation.”
As search and rescue efforts continue in the devastated community, there remains another widespread threat for storms to the east.
