Damage to trees and power lines was reported across northwest Iowa after a long line of strong thunderstorms with recorded wind gusts over 90 mph caused many power outages across northwest Iowa Monday night. MidAmerican Energy reported at least 10,000 people were without power by 10:30 p.m. Monday, with damage being seen across Northwest Iowa and Southeast South Dakota.
At about 9 p.m., the severe storms started getting reported in the Clay, Union and Lincoln County areas, and they eventually moved on to Northwest Iowa. By 10 p.m., winds started approaching 100 mph, Then by 10:15 p.m., the storms intensified to the point that Sioux County, sent out an advisory telling people to avoid traveling due to downed trees and power lines. As the storms continued east, O’Brien County also advised against travel with multiple trees down on town streets and local highways. Some of the areas that saw damage included Sheldon, Royal, Hospers, Ireton, and Sioux Center.
MidAmerican Energy customers without power has gone down significantly overnight, but thousands are still without power. As of 6am, the company’s outage watch map reported just over 3,000 customers without power in the Storm Lake region. Some of the areas still facing significant outages as of that time included Ireton, Inwood and rural O’Brien County.
Storm Cleanup is in progress in Sioux County, Crews are clearing streets with pay loaders and other equipment. Travel with caution while clean up is in progress.
The Sioux County Sheriff’s office issued an alert this morning, Avoid Coolidge Ave from 360th St. to 390th St., three miles Southeast of Hudson, SD, due to power lines blocking the roadway.
TREE COLLECTION SITES
Sioux Center
•Parking lot at Heritage Village (701 2nd Ave. SW)
•Gravel area behind tower fields at the end of 5th St. SW
•Parking lot east of Sioux Center Middle School/west of the baseball diamond
•Tree and yard waste site behind B&B Salvage (298 7th St. NW)
See tree/debris information for Orange City and Hull and more Weather Related Announcements here.
