Morning Storms Cause Considerable Damage

There are numerous reports of storm damage this morning, across Northeast Iowa. The brunt of the storm hit at about 8am, when heavy rains and strong winds hit Oelwein and the surrounding area.

The city of Oelwein had some downed trees and power outages. The Oelwein Police Department reported some trees and branches down in and around Oelwein.

There are reports that there is a wide swath of damage in rural Fayette County, between Maynard and Arlington, with several buildings destroyed.

There are reports of 90 mile an hour winds in the Independence area, at the high school, this morning. An outbuilding southeast of Hazleton was toppled, along with some barns in rural Buchanan county.

In Clayton County, a semi was tipped over by the winds on Highway 52 near Millville. A grocery store in Garber was apparently flattened. In Holy Cross, a school building was damaged.

Alliant Energy reported several thousand residents were without power for a time, nearly 10,000 in Fayette, Bremer and Buchanan Counties. Midamerican Energy had about 9,000 customers without electricity, most of them in Waterloo.

Besides the winds, some of the area received torrential rains. Flash flood warnings were issued for Allamakee, Clayton, Mitchell and Winneshiek Counties, until late this morning. About 3 inches of rain fell in less than 2 hours.

Lost Island Water Park in Waterloo closed for the day, due to storm damage.

An Osage teen escaped injury when a tree was blown down onto his car at about 7:30 this morning. 18 year old Riley Rodemaker was able to crawl out of his vehicle.

More rain, possibly some severe weather, is forecast again for this afternoon as well as most of the rest of the week.