FLATLAND

Drone footage shows scope of deadly outbreak of tornadoes in Iowa
By Renee Duff, Accuweather.com

An outbreak of severe weather over the weekend spawned a preliminary count of more than three dozen tornadoes on Saturday across Iowa, Wisconsin and Indiana. Photo courtesy Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds via Accuweather

March 8 -- Less than 36 hours after a tornado swarm struck Iowa and killed at least seven people, including two young children, fresh snow blanketed the destruction as biting winds pushed temperatures into the single digits.

Forecasters say Mother Nature could deliver another bitter blow of snow and cold later this week, adding further hardships to residents left picking up the pieces

The outbreak of severe weather over the weekend spawned a preliminary count of more than three dozen tornadoes on Saturday across Iowa, Wisconsin and Indiana. To complicate matters further on Saturday, the National Weather Service suffered technical difficulties that caused delays in disseminating tornado warnings as the extreme weather threat escalated.

And by Monday, a widespread 2- to 4-inch snowfall blanketed much of Iowa, the hardest-hit state

The towns of Winterset and Patterson, Iowa, located to the southwest of Des Moines, saw significant damage as at least three tornado-producing thunderstorms ravaged the area Saturday. Initial assessments by the National Weather Service revealed that the damage was caused by a tornado of at least EF3 force, meaning wind speeds were as high as 136-165 mph. Later, the NWS said the tornado was actually an EF4 twister with peak winds reaching 170 mph.

The massive tornado had a width of 800 yards and traveled nearly 70 miles, creating the second-longest tornado path in Iowa since 1980. It was also the first EF4 tornado to touch down in Iowa since 2013.

Two children under the age of five and four adults were among those killed by the twister in the town of Winterset, with another reported fatality in Lucas County, Iowa, making this the deadliest tornado to hit Iowa since 2008, according to the Des Moines Register.

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Drone footage showed the path of destruction the tornado cut through Winterset, a small city that's home to a little more than 5,000 residents. Homes could be seen with roofs ripped off and debris scattered in all directions and some were almost completely leveled, the video showed.

Tornado warnings sent out by the NWS on Saturday were delayed by as many as seven minutes, the NWS said in a statement to AccuWeather.

"The communications delay stemmed from a damaged fiber optic cable that serves our Dallas-Ft. Worth forecast office, which is co-located with a river forecast center," Susan Buchanan, NWS director of public affairs, said in an email.

The glitch caused "that office to switch from its primary, land-based communication network to a backup satellite-based network that serves every NWS field office," Buchanan continued, adding that the result was a "brief backlog across multiple offices."

"Delays in the NWS distributing tornado warnings to the public, especially of between five and 10 minutes is very problematic because it means that people relying on government warnings have that much less time to seek safe shelter prior to the tornado reaching their area," AccuWeather Senior Vice President of Forecasting Jonathan Porter said.

Des Moines International Airport was in the path of the tornadic storm as it moved to the northeast, threatening air traffic and those inside the airport. As the dangers of the storm became clear, the airport decided to stop all air traffic and evacuate everyone to tornado shelters under the airport.

Dramatic footage from a traffic camera showed the fury of the thunderstorm along Interstate 35 near Cumming, Iowa, with headlights from an oncoming vehicle barely visible due to the wind-driven rain.

After impacting the Des Moines metro area, the tornado headed toward the northwest side of Newton, Iowa. While the storm was crossing I-80, a semi-truck flipped over just west of Newton as the tornado-warned cell moved through.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for Madison County late Saturday to deploy state resources to assist with response and recovery efforts.

"Our hearts go out to all those affected by the deadly storms that tore through our state today," Reynolds said in a statement. "Our hearts ache during this time, but I know Iowans will step up and come together to help in this time of need-they already are."

Reynolds toured the damage in Madison County on Sunday, calling it "absolutely heartbreaking" to see the destruction in person but stating that the "outpouring of support from volunteers" was "even more overwhelming" to witness.

Mother Nature hit relief and volunteer efforts hard at the start of this week as winter descended upon the region with snow and 20-degree temperatures. The wintry weather forced the Madison County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to delay debris removal operations.

"Roads are still snow-covered and we do not want volunteers to be injured due to not knowing what is under the snow," the agency said on Twitter.

Cleanup and recovery may again be hampered later on this week, AccuWeather meteorologists say, as yet another storm with snow and a reinforcing wave of cold air is expected to arrive late Wednesday into Thursday.

In total, four tornadoes were confirmed on Sunday, with three sweeping through Arkansas and one in Missouri. One injured five people and damaged two homes east of Zion, Arkansas, and structures were also reported damaged north of Dover, about 80 miles northwest of Little Rock.

Late Monday, a second EF-1 tornado was confirmed by the NWS to have hit Arkansas. Maximum winds of the tornado were estimated to be between 86 and 110 mph. At least two people were reported injured and power outages occurred in the Theodosia, Mo., area.

Video footage showed a tornado swirling through nearby London, which left several flattened structures, twisted metal and uprooted trees.

Porter said that a solution for the warning delays caused by the technical glitch is of urgent importance. "This is a topic, with Saturday being the latest example, that should be immediately prioritized due to the potential impact on lives and property if public safety warnings from the NWS are delayed or fail to be delivered," he said.

Buchanan, the NWS public affairs director, told AccuWeather that the agency is looking to immediately implement "procedural changes to avoid a repeat" of what happened on Saturday -- even a potential short-term option could be deployed before a more sweeping change can be made.

"The deadly tornado outbreak in Iowa on March 5 was heartbreaking," Buchanan said, "and our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones."