Northwest Iowa (KIWA/SCR/SLR) — With damaging storms moving through the area over the weekend, the Lyon County Courthouse was struck by lightning. According to the Lyon County Attorney’s Office, the damage occurred sometime Sunday evening. As a result, the courthouse was without phone service for a time on Monday, but we have been advised that the service has been restored.
Sheriff Nate Huizenga says the biggest issue reported in Sioux County was a washed-out bridge that forced the closure of 490th Street between Fir Avenue and Garfield Avenue, about three miles west and two miles south of Maurice. Huizenga says a small wooden bridge washed out after the area received around 3.5 inches of rain. Repairs are expected to take about a week.
While damage across our area appears to have been relatively limited, other communities in northwest Iowa reported tornadoes, storm damage, and scattered power outages.
There don’t appear to have been any reports of tornadoes called into the National Weather Service. In our four-county area, they report inch-and-a-quarter hail northeast of Lester at 5:14 p.m., three-quarter-inch hail at Rock Valley at 5:51 p.m., and three-quarter-inch hail in Sibley at 6:36 p.m. The closest tornado may have been only about ten miles north of our area, southwest of Worthington, Minnesota.
Another nearby tornado report was in Cherokee County, where law enforcement warned of multiple tornadoes on the ground as storms intensified. Around 8:30 p.m., radar indicated rotation near Cleghorn, with a tornado warning issued for northeastern Cherokee, northwestern Buena Vista, southwestern Clay, and southeastern O’Brien counties.
The Kingsley and Pierson areas appeared to have been hit by tornadoes.
Despite the storms and localized damage, there have been no reports of serious or life-threatening injuries.
KIWA Staff File Photo
