Saturday storms cause damage
August 8th, 2011 by Ric Hanson
Strong storms Saturday night brought large hail and damaging winds to western and southwest Iowa. The storms blew through the area between 8:15-and 11-p.m.
In Stanton, sustained winds tore off a large chunk of the gymnasium roof at the Stanton High School. In Atlantic, thunderstorm winds at around 9:50-p.m., toppled a large tree limb onto a power line, which fell on a truck.
Hail the size of pennies began to fall in Crawford County at around 8:15. Golfball-sized hail was reported in Shelby County at around 8:30-p.m., damaging several vehicle windshields. Within the next half-hour, pea-to quarter-sized hail was reported near the Audubon Airport, and quarter-sized hail near Kimballton, along with winds gusting up to 60-miles per hour. Quarter-sized hail continued to fall near the Audubon Airport for about 10-minutes, after 9-p.m.
At about 9:30, winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour were recorded four-miles northeast of Anita, along Interstate 80. Thunderstorm winds caused 4-to 6-inch diameter tree limbs to fall near Corning, at around 10:10-p.m. Saturday, and winds gusting up to 71-miles per hour were reported northwest of Creston about 20-minutes later, causing tree and roof damage. A tree was also reported to have fallen on a house, in Creston. At about the same time, the American Legion Building in Macksburg sustained wind damage from the storms.
Storms spotters northeast of Orient reported 65-miles per hour winds and torrential rain at around 10:40-p.m., Saturday. About 20-minutes earlier, winds gusting over 60-miles per hour damaged metal sheds and peeled off part of a roof two-miles southeast of Orient. A tree was also reported to have fallen on a trailer east of Orient, and a roof was torn off of a hog house.
Those same storms pushed their way into south central Iowa overnight Saturday, into early Sunday morning. There were no reports of injuries.