Areas of Northwest Iowa experienced storm damage Wednesday afternoon. Kyle Weisser at the National Weather Service Sioux Falls office says Sibley and Rock Rapids were two of the hardest hit areas:
Along with the thunderstorms and wind damage, were what appeared on video to be tornadoes. People in the area at the time north of Rock Rapids and near Sibley took the videos and posted them to social media.
Meteorologist Jeff Chapman with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls describes them as “gustnadoes.”
He says there was a lot of wind damage in the area, but most of it was caused by strong gusty straight-line winds.
There were several reports in Lyon and Osceola counties of roofs being blown off, semi-trucks being overturned, and even buildings being destroyed by the winds. Power outages also occurred.
(Photo by Sharia Snedeker to fellow Community First Broadcasting partner KIWA. Audio clips from KAYL and KIWA)
