storm
Deaths and damage after tornadoes in the USA
A firefighter walks among homes destroyed by a tornado in Greenfield, Iowa. photo
© Charlie Neibergall/AP/dpa
The small US town of Greenfield in Iowa is devastated. A tornado ripped through the middle of the town of 2,000 residents and left behind debris. Several people were killed.
“Unfortunately, we can confirm that there were fatalities in this tornado,” CNN quoted police spokesman Alex Dinkla as saying. More precise information on the number of victims was initially not available.
The tornado in Greenfield also caused “a lot of damage,” Dinkla said. At least twelve people were injured and taken to hospitals, CBS News quoted the spokesman as saying.
“There is practically nothing left,” said local politician Clel Baudler, who lives not far from the town of Greenfield, which has a population of 2,000, to CNN. The tornado went “right through Greenfield.” According to reports, numerous buildings were destroyed. A hospital was damaged, as were numerous cars, and trees were toppled. Images from Greenfield show piles of rubble.
According to US media, there have been several tornadoes in the state. Some wind turbines, each around 75 meters high, also toppled – according to initial estimates, as a result of a tornado, CBS News reported.
According to CNN, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has declared a state of emergency for several districts in her state in order to be able to react more quickly to the consequences of the storm. She is expected in Greenfield on Wednesday morning.
At one point, 30,000 households in Iowa were without power, according to the website Poweroutage.us. Experts also attribute the increase in natural disasters in the USA – storms, floods and forest fires – to the effects of climate change.