The tornado had just struck Greenfield, Iowa, where residents were already clearing roads with skid loaders. Damage to the hospital meant injured people were being taken to a medical triage center at a local lumber yard. Emergency personnel and police were rushing to help small towns across western Iowa.
“Everyone became a makeshift ambulance,” said Iowa Rep. Ray Sorensen, who lives in Greenfield. He said he rushed back to town Tuesday afternoon shortly after the storm hit and helped with rescue efforts. “We pulled him out of the rubble, put him on a small makeshift stretcher and threw him into the back of a truck.”
On Wednesday, the roughly 2,000 residents of Greenfield, 60 miles southwest of Des Moines, began to get a clearer view of the destruction around them. Gov. Kim Reynolds said some areas were “buried in debris,” and the National Weather Service reported “at least EF-3 damage” in the town, a rating of tornado intensity on a scale of zero to five.
State officials announced Wednesday night that four people were killed and at least 35 more were treated for injuries in the Greenfield area. Another person died from storm-related causes in nearby Adams County, the coroner said.
Scenes of destruction suddenly unfolded around Greenfield neighborhoods, turning lush yards into chaos with loose lumber strewn across the ground and household items like coolers and sinks strewn across the lawns. Outside the local hospital, tree branches lay strewn across the lawn and the windows of parked cars were boarded up. Longtime residents stared at homes damaged beyond repair.
“It was just a little house,” says Jane Woodside, a former high school teacher, “but I loved my little house.”
The damage was both severe and tragic, with some houses reduced to rubble, while others remained largely undamaged. The tornado tore off the roof of Woodside's home and blew out the windows, but the rosary next to her favorite chair remained intact. The celery I had chopped just before the storm was still sitting on the kitchen counter.
Many in town said they were warned of the danger by tornado sirens and emergency alerts on their cellphones, and as the storm blew in late afternoon, it overwhelmed their senses.
“The change in air pressure clogged my ears and made it difficult to breathe,” said Sarah Wildin, an assistant manager at the gas station. She weathered the storm in the basement, and the first floor suffered extensive damage. “It sounds worse than a freight train. People often say it sounds like a freight train. Well, I guess the closest thing to describe it is freight train, but there are no words for the human experience.”
As rescuers sorted through the wreckage, residents began to reflect on a proud community that had undergone lasting changes. Sorensen, the state lawmaker, said the store where he goes for oil changes is “totally shut down.”
“The most devastating thing is, have we lost these great business owners, these great people,” Sorensen, a Republican, said in an interview. “Are they just going to walk away because it's too hard to bounce back from this?”
Throughout town, standing old-growth trees were piled with twisted metal, items sucked out of homes, and debris. Much of the bark had been stripped away. Cars and trucks were wrecked, windows blown out and exteriors destroyed. Other vehicles were no longer where their owners had parked them.
Raymond Young said he was talking to his neighbors in their garage on Tuesday when the tornado closed in. He said he ran down the stairs and into a friend's basement just in time.
“In five to 10 seconds, the garage was gone,” said Young, who is retired. His own home was blown off its foundation. “If we had waited five to 10 seconds, we would have died.”
Kendalyn Huff stood Wednesday morning outside Tiger Drive-In, the restaurant she owns with her husband, welcoming people who made their way across the rubble-strewn grounds to be served free snacks.
“All we can do is give out free ice cream and soda,” she said.
Huff said the damage to her home was minor, but she choked up when talking about a family member she heard was crushed to death in another home.
It's been a particularly harsh spring in Iowa, which is still recovering from last month's tornado outbreak that devastated Minden, a small town about 110 miles from Greenfield.
“I was just in Minden,” Reynolds, a Republican, said at a news conference Wednesday. “I think there's a lot more debris here, and it's even more heavily affected. So it's just horrific. It's hard to describe the devastation until you see it for yourself.”
Report contributor: Christine Houser, judson jones and Joel Petterson.