PARKERSBURG, Iowa — Severe thunderstorms packing large hail and tornadoes rumbled across the nation’s midsection Sunday, killing at least eight people in Iowa and Minnesota and damaging dozens of homes, authorities said.
Iowa Homeland Security administrator Dave Miller said seven people were killed by a tornado in northeast Iowa, five from Parkersburg, 80 miles northeast of Des Moines, and two from New Hartford. At least 50 injuries were reported.
“Occasionally we have a death, but we have a warning system. Seven deaths. It’s been a long time since we’ve had those kinds of injuries and deaths reported,” Miller said.
Witnesses reported parts of Parkersburg — particularly the town’s south side — were reduced to rubble, including most of the town’s high school and homes.
A tornado also struck just to the east in Dunkerton and elsewhere in Black Hawk County, where there were reports of homes damaged or destroyed.
At least 20 people were unaccounted for in Minnesota after a swift storm blew through the St. Paul suburb of Hugo, damaging about four dozen homes, City Administrator Mike Ericson said. Many of them could be out of town for the holiday weekend, he said.
A 2-year-old child was killed and the child’s sibling was critically injured and taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton said. The parents were hospitalized with injuries sustained in the family home.
“It’s horrible,” Ericson said. “The citizens are very shook and scared.”
Residents reported a tornado, but that hadn’t been confirmed by the National Weather Service.
About 300 or 400 homes were evacuated in the storm- damaged area because of concerns over hazards such as downed power lines and leaky gas lines, Ericson said. The city set up a shelter at an elementary school.
Hugo Public Works Director Chris Petree said his family took shelter in the basement before the storm lifted his house off the ground and wiped out the second floor.
“I put my daughter down first, my wife on top of her and then I bear-hugged on top of them,” Petree said.
As he huddled in his basement with his wife and 2-year-old daughter, Petree said, they heard the thunderous sound of their house coming off the ground.
“All you hear is glass breaking and wood tearing and breaking in half,” Petree said.
About 100 people have died in U.S. twisters this year, the worst toll in a decade, according to the Weather Service.
