By Brandon Hurley
Managing Editor
A trio of EF-2 tornados ravaged Greene County in a historic event Wednesday.
Three of the five confirmed tornados in Iowa touched down locally the night of Dec. 15, initiating a shockwave of destruction and disorientation spanning several days.
Each of the Greene County tornados, two of which originated several miles southwest of Jefferson while the other began a shade southwest of Paton, reached peak wind gusts of 120 miles per hour.
Many residents in Jefferson were without power for 33 consecutive hours. Electricity was knocked out around 5:30 p.m. Dec. 15 when storms began rolling in. Power wasn't restored until roughly 2:30 a.m. Friday morning, Dec. 17, forcing residents to endure chilling temperatures which reached as low as 25 degrees overnight as Dec. 16 turned into Friday. Several hundred residents in rural Greene County remained without power through Friday, according to outage maps from Midland Power.
Greene County Community School District cancelled school Thursday and Friday, citing massive storm damage and continued power outages throughout the county. Paton-Churdan also cancelled school on Thursday.
The National Weather Service out of Des Moines classified all three of Dec. 15's tornados as EF-2s, with capabilities of producing wind speeds at 120 mph.
The first EF-2 tornado originated southwest of Bayard around 5:17 p.m. and headed northeast toward Jefferson, traveling 24 miles, slicing between Scranton and Jefferson, ending northwest of the intersection of Highway 30 and Highway 4 around 5:31 p.m., lasting a total of 14 minutes.
A more destructive EF-2 tornado developed at 5:21 p.m. near Springbrook State Park, tracking almost parallel to the tornado near Bayard, but a few more miles to the east. This particular storm system traveled northwest of Bagley, navigating its way 17.4 miles toward Jefferson, ravaging a few buildings south of Jefferson during its 13 minute reign of terror. The tornado devastated a metal storage building six miles south of town just off Highway 4 and destroyed a pair of buildings on a farm two miles north along the highway.
A third EF-2 tornado began a shade southwest of Paton around 5:43 p.m., producing the longest path of the three Greene County cells, traveling 26 miles in total. The tornado tracked northeast, leaving the county and barreling through Harcourt and past the western edge of Burnside. The tornado lasted 18 minutes, crossed Highway 20 and finished northwest of Duncombe.
An EF-2 tornado is classified as a significant cell reaching wind speeds between 111 mph and 135 mph. It's the fourth most dangerous classification, behind EF-3 (136-165 mph), EF4 (166-200mph), which is considered extreme and EF-5, the most catastrophic tornado possible, reaching wind speeds of more than 200 mph.
The National Weather Service already has marked Dec. 15 as a significant date in Iowa history, a single-day stretch which produced the most amount of hurricane force wind gusts (75 mph or faster) across the state since 2004. The organization confirmed more than 55 instances of gusts reaching at least 75 mph. Last year's derecho witnessed 53 cases of gusts which reached or exceeded that level. Nineteen tornados in all were reported across the midwest on Dec. 15.
Six of Midland Power’s electrical substations within Greene County remained without power as of 10 a.m. Thursday. The company estimated, in a social media post, that some customers could remain without electricity for several days.
More than 38,000 Alliant Energy customers statewide were at one point without power for an extended period of time. The company was hoping to have most of its customers back up and running by the end of day Dec. 17. The NWS did say they could end up confirming more tornados as the days pass. The local survey teams ran into several situations of damage which required them to decipher between a tornado and straight-line winds.
Meteorologists were a little more prepared than they were for 2020's surprising derecho, issuing their largest thunderstorm warning ever midway through the afternoon of Dec. 15, a warning which covered a mass of 12,757 square kilometers (storm based warnings weren't tracked until 2007).
Weather reports predicted high winds several days in advance, warning residents of possible gusts exceeding 75 mph, encouraging them remove inflatable Christmas decorations and to bring trash cans and patio furniture inside.
But no one could quite predict what developed shortly before 5:30 p.m. Dec. 15. In a half hour span, three tornados were reported, tossing gran bins across farm fields, along with dozens of metal side panels, several of which were wrapped around trees and electrical poles.
A number of electrical poles snapped in half while several others were knocked down, zapping power from the town of Jefferson and surrounding communities.
Prior to the Dec. 15 storm, only five tornados had ever been recorded in Iowa during the month of December. Five tornados were spotted in a span of an hour last week, shattering the all-time record.
While Scranton was sparred of a tornado, a top wind gust of 73 mph was reported Dec. 15.
Greene County declared a disaster area
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued disaster proclamations for 49 Iowa counties, which included Greene. The proclamation allows "state resources to be utilized to respond and recover from the effects of this severe weather." The governor's proclamation also states individuals can draw help from the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program as well as the Disaster Case Management Program.
The proclamation also activates the Iowa Individual Assistance Grant Program, which provides grants up to $5,000 for affected households with incomes up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Grant money can be used for home or car repairs, replacement of clothing or food as well as temporary housing expenses.
Grant applications and instructions are available on the Iowa Department of Human Services website at www.dhs.iowa.gov. Applicants have 45 days from the date of proclamation to submit a claim and original receipts are required for expenses to be reimbursed.
The disaster proclamation also activates the Disaster Case Management Program, in which disaster care managers work with clients to develop a recovery plan and provide guidance throughout disaster recovery. The program has no income eligibility requirements and closes 180 days after the governor's proclamation.
Residents impacted by the severe storm can report damage to the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, which is shared with local emergency management agencies. Damage to property, roads, utilities and other information can be reported at www.homelandsecurity.iowa.gov.