Northwest Iowa — There are many reports in the area of downed trees and power lines from the storm that went through overnight. Just one example — a large tree in Sheldon fell across a street and damaged three vehicles. Reports from around the area include up to a quarter of an inch of ice in some places and several power poles down just to our east. Not too far west, most of it fell as snow. Power outages are common as well, especially in towns with overhead power lines.
According to the Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative’s information, there were several customers in Sioux, Lyon, and O’Brien counties without power, but Osceola County topped their list with 586 customers without power as of 10:00 a.m. on Thursday. Mid-American Energy reported over 900 customers without power in the Rock Valley and Inwood area and 155 in the Sanborn area at that time. Alliant Energy reported over 270 customers without power in the George/Sibley/Ashton/Cloverdale area as of 10:00 a.m.
Lyon County Emergency Management Director Arden Kopishke says they still had a lot of power outages as of 4 p.m. Thursday. He says power poles were down in the Inwood, Doon, and Alvord areas. He says dealing with wind is making repairs more difficult. Kopishke says along with downed power lines, several power poles were snapped off in the Inwood area. He says some poles were down in the Little Rock and George area too.
Osceola County Emergency Management Director Dan Bechler says their main issue is also power lines. The entire city of Melvin was without power at one point. According to Bechler, crews are working as hard as they can. He reports some poles snapped off there as well. He says he has one report of a tree that fell on a house roof. Bechler tells us the county mostly received freezing rain and large ice pellets, or possibly hail.
O’Brien County Emergency Management Director Jared Johnson says there was some damage in his county, but it’s less severe and widespread. He says they do have power lines and trees down.
Photo caption above: Fallen tree blocks street in 800 block of Sixth Street in Sheldon.
Photo caption below: Snow/hail/freezing rain mixture in Rock Rapids
