DES MOINES, Iowa – At least six people, four adults and two children, were killed in Iowa in a tornado that damaged buildings, knocked down trees and uprooted electricity poles in Madison County, not far from the capital Des Moines. Four other people were injured.
The director of the local Emergency Service, Diogenes Ayala, specified that between 25 and 30 homes were severely damaged. “It’s the worst thing we’ve seen in a long time,” he added.
Governor Kim Reynolds has declared Madison County a state of natural disaster. “Our thoughts are with all those affected by the deadly storms that ravaged our state today,” she wrote in a statement.
The storm also caused damage in Norwalk, a suburb of Des Moines, and in other areas of eastern Iowa. Authorities reported damaged buildings, roads blocked by tree branches or trunks or by light poles. In the area of the capital there was a blackout that affected about 10 thousand users.
Last December, dozens of violent tornadoes devastated five central US states, mostly Kentucky, causing at least 79 deaths.