Sioux County, Iowa (RI/KSOU/KIWA) — The Governor has issued disaster proclamations for O’Brien, Osceola, Sioux, and Hancock counties after strong storms blew through last night packing winds clocked from 70 to 100 miles per hour.
Sioux County Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan De Kruyf says it hit there around 9:15 p.m.
Some 10 thousand homes were without power, and De Kruyf says crews were working to get that restored on Tuesday morning.
He says no one was injured in the storm.
De Kruyf says many of the toppled trees were large and old.
(Above courtesy fellow Community First Broadcasting station KSOU in Sioux Center and RadioIowa)
De Kruyf says as soon as he started checking out the damage, he knew this was a big deal.
He says in addition to significant crop damage, there was structural damage as well in Sioux County.
He says the damage was pretty widespread, unlike the normal damage path for a tornado.
As of Tuesday afternoon, he says he had not heard yet from the National Weather Service as to whether the storm included tornadoes or would be classified as a derecho.
De Kruyf is asking residents to go to the county website and make damage reports.
Meanwhile, Lyon County also saw significant damage, according to Lyon County Emergency Management Director Arden Kopischke.
He details some of that damage for us.
Kopischke says there is also crop damage.
We did also speak briefly with O’Brien County Emergency Management Director Jared Johnson, but due to priority projects at the time, he wasn’t available for an interview. Johnson did tell us that he’s working with Public Health to get some food assistance, and he said there was a new electricity development for which he was just getting the details. He says it’s possible parts of Sheldon may not get power again until Wednesday. We will attempt to get more information from Johnson when he is available.
Meanwhile, Osceola County Emergency Management Director Corey Shearer was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.
