Storms batter Iowa; tornado touches down

By ABBY SIMONS and BETH ANDROUAIS
The Des Moines Register

Norwalk, Ia. — Residents living along Cherry Parkway here could only gape at the damage a wicked storm wreaked in a few seconds late Friday afternoon.

Officers direct traffic in Norwalk, Iowa, Friday. (AP Photo/Kevin Sanders)

“I got a piece of Casey’'s here,” Matt Morgan, 40, said as he surveyed his garage, which was knocked off its foundation and garnished with a piece of awning from the convenience store more than three blocks away. “It came through rough.”

No serious injuries were reported.

The National Weather Service said the storm included a tornado that touched down in the Norwalk area. Some of the worst damage was

west of Norwalk in Cumming, where sheriff’'s deputies blocked off roads to the town for a few hours. At least two houses were seriously damaged. Power lines snapped and propane tanks ruptured, leaving a strong smell of leaking gas.

The wind blew windows into the front and out of the back of Linda and Ed Harkin’'s home in Cumming. Their garage was flattened and trees were damaged. “I’'m just glad everybody’'s safe.

A tornado touches down near Elie, Manitoba on Friday. At least four homes were destroyed and several others damaged. (AP/Wayne Hanna)

Everything can be replaced,” Linda Harkin said.

Throughout central Iowa, electric company crews worked to restore power to about 19,000 customers. A MidAmerican Energy spokesman said he wasn’'t sure how long the task would take.

In Norwalk, strangers aided neighbors in sawing apart massive limbs torn from decades-old trees.

Residents said they didn’'t hear the legendary freight-train roar of a tornado.

“We were down in the basement. I had just gotten home from work and saw the storm coming,” said Bill Tuggle, 53, who took shelter with his wife and two sons. “I didn’'t hear a thing. I went upstairs to get a flashlight, and all the trees were down.”

At the Casey’'s General Store along Norwalk’'s main drag on Iowa Highway 28, employees swept debris inside the darkened building, whose windows were shattered and awnings gone. Assistant Manager Karen Nath said employees rode out the storm in the basement. “We weren’'t sure if it was a tornado, but we didn’'t stick around to find out, either,” she said.

Bevin Allison, 28, returned to Norwalk with Kent Spieker, 31, and Shelby Purscell, 15. They had been watching a movie at Des Moines’’ Southridge Mall when the screen went blank.

“The lights were flickering on and off, and all of a sudden there was no sound. Then someone goes, ''There was a tornado in Norwalk!’' " Allison said.

The three headed home to Norwalk to find a tree destroyed in the yard of Purscell’'s great-grandmother.

“My dad’'s 69 years old, and he said he’'s never seen damage like this in Norwalk,” Spieker said.

The three noted an eerie coincidence about the movie they’'d been watching when the storm hit. It was “Evan Almighty,” a comedy about a modern-day Noah, complete with a flood and an ark.

In Des Moines, heavy rains flooded several roads and streets, including Fleur Drive. On the west side, power lines were down along Grand Avenue as far west as 51st Street, and numerous barricades were put up throughout the city to protect motorists and pedestrians from fallen wires. In Dallas County, part of Iowa Highway 141 was under water.

Elsewhere in Iowa, a flash flood warning was issued for parts of northern Iowa from Marshalltown to Mason City. Much of eastern Iowa spent Friday under flash flood warnings, the aftermath of heavy thunderstorms that struck Thursday evening. U.S. Highway 6 was closed in West Liberty.

Parts of western and central Iowa received up to 4 inches of rain, with some of that expected to spread into eastern Iowa later Friday night.

A flood warning has been issued until Sunday for the Iowa River near Marshalltown, the weather service reported.