A “devastating tornado” struck a town in the US state of Iowa on Tuesday, killing and injuring people, police said, although they have not yet provided a casualty count.
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This enormous storm “devastated a good part of Greenfield”, a town of around 2,000 inhabitants located 70 km southwest of Des Moines, the state capital, declared during a press conference the sergeant Alex Dinkla of the Iowa State Patrol.
“Earlier today, the town of Greenfield was hit by a devastating tornado. Local emergency services from the county and state quickly initiated search and rescue operations after this tornado passed through the area,” said Sergeant Dinkla.
“Unfortunately, we can confirm that this tornado caused deaths and injuries to residents in the Greenfield area,” he added.
He did not give the number of deaths, but said a dozen people had been taken to hospital.
After searching the area, “we believe everyone has been accounted for,” he said.
Images published on the Des Moines Register website show scenes of devastation in Greenfield: numerous homes razed, trees uprooted and cars overturned.
The city will be under a curfew from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Wednesday, Dinkla said, adding that the curfew is “expected to last for some time.”
Because of the bad weather, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including Adair, which includes Greenfield.
“I am committed to providing all resources of the state to support relief and reconstruction efforts,” she said in a statement, indicating that she planned to travel to Greenfield on Wednesday to assess the damage .
She said she was praying for the “communities and families affected by today’s severe weather, especially those who tragically lost their lives in the Greenfield area.”
In April, a tornado killed one person in Iowa.
