Montgomery County Emergency Manager’s update on last week’s tornadoes

May 28th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Montgomery County Emergency Management Director Brian Hamman, today (Tuesday), updated the status of repairs following tornadoes that caused damage last week. He started his report on the latest information on the number and strength of the tornadoes. A lot of the information is still in the preliminary stages. Hamman said there were four tornadoes.

He said there was extensive, scattered damage throughout the County, along the twister’s paths.

Montgomery County Emergency Management Coordinator Brian Hamman (5/28/24)

Hamman said as with any storms, there was extensive tree damage. He’s said they’re still working on getting a dollar amount of the damage to homes, property and infrastructure from the tornadoes and flooding, altogether. Brian Hamman said Secondary Roads also took a big hit, including the destruction of a road, gravel loss, signs and tree removal. The Conservation Department, he said, also has a lot of damage to contend with, estimated “On the lower side of $100,000,” Hamman said. He’s working to get volunteers organized to help clear the trails later this week. The City of Red Oak’s Public Works Department building was damaged in the storms.

Montgomery County’s Communications tower located west of Villisca, was topped in the storm, and another was damaged. It was an emotional topic for him to discuss.

It’s not clear when the tower will be replaced, but the best case scenario, would be about one-year. The north site tower, Hamman said, was still standing, but the micro-wave link is out-of-alignment, and is scheduled to be aligned later this week. He said with the one tower down, there will be a loss of communications in the County, especially in the southeast part of the County, but there are work-around solutions, including fiber optics.