(Radio Iowa) – Dozens of community and municipal bands in Iowa have already kicked off the outdoor season — and one of the state’s most famous city bands is performing today (Monday). Dale Schoening is a trombonist with experience. “Currently I play in the Boone Municipal Band. I’ve been in that band since 1998,” he says. “Played in the Pella Municipal Band for a while. I played in the Ballard Community Band for a time. I played one year in the Oskaloosa City Band several years ago. I’ve played in the Perry Municipal Band and later Perry Area Community Band for a while.”

The camaraderie in a band is the draw for Schoening.  “For me at least, it’s simply the joy of making music together with other people who are also enjoying doing that as well,” he says. Schoening is chairman of the committee that organizes the annual Iowa Municipal Band Festival in Boone — and there are at least 100 community bands on his mailing list. “For many communities it’s a source of real pride for them that their community has a band,” Schoening says.

“…Many of these community bands have a history that goes back into even the 1880s in some cases, so it’s a real legacy for Iowa.” In the last century, the Fort Dodge Municipal Band was led by a bandmaster who had worked for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and the Barnum and Bailey Circus. “The most famous march composer, probably second only to John Phillips Sousa, was Karl L. King,” Schoening says, “who composed a lot of marches and was director of the Fort Dodge Municipal Band for many, many years.”

King — who wrote over 200 marches in his lifetime — successfully lobbied the Iowa legislature to pass the Iowa Band Law in 1922. It lets cities levy a tax to support a municipal band. King’s Band — as it’s now called — will perform a concert at 10 a.m. today (Monday) at Veterans Memorial Park in Fort Dodge, but if there’s rain, it will be moved to the auditorium at Fort Dodge St. Edmond High School. This year’s Iowa Municipal Band Festival is set for July 13th in Boone, with nine bands and four small groups on the schedule.

This is the Ames Municipal Band performing the Liberty Bell March at least year’s festival in Boone. Here’s a clip of their performance:

In 1991, the Karl King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge staged a concert to mark the 100th anniversary of King’s birth and it was broadcast on Iowa P-B-S:

(Radio Iowa) – The Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened a Disaster Recovery Center in Greenfield, where at least 150 homes were heavily damaged or destroyed in last week’s tornado. FEMA spokesman John Mills spoke with Radio Iowa from the center, which is located in Greenfield’s City Hall.

“It opened at 1 p.m. on Sunday and people were waiting in the lobby,” Mills says. “We’ve had a steady stream of people coming in. They’re sitting down with FEMA and going through the application process for federal assistance.” Mills visited with some of the people who were at the site Sunday.

“Many of them are covered by insurance. I did meet some folks who did not have any insurance at all,” Mills said. “We’re going to work with people on a case by case basis, to help them get some assistance.” Tuesday’s tornado cut a mile long path through Greenfield, plus a spin-off tornado struck other areas of Adair County. Mills says 14 FEMA staffers are going door to door, canvasing neighborhoods in Greenfield and going to other locations where storm victims are getting help.

“For example, FEMA has a team set up at the St. John’s Catholic Church in Greenfield, which is being used by a variety of non-profit organizations to provide free hot meals,” Mills says. “FEMA was invited by local emergency management to set up a table in the parking lot, so we’re also meeting survivors there and helping them register for assistance at that location.” Mills says FEMA is part of a large team of organizations working to provide help to Greenfield residents who need it.

FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Center in Greenfield will be open every day of the week, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. until further notice. That includes today — Memorial Day. FEMA opened two Disaster Recovery Centers in Minden and Harlan LAST week to help residents affected by the severe weather that struck April 26th. Those FEMA sites in Pottawattamie and Shelby Counties will be closed today (Monday) but will reopen tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

(Des Moines, Iowa – Iowa News Service] – Memorial Day commemorates Americans who lost their lives while serving in the military. But the Iowa Federation of Labor takes the opportunity to also honor people who died on the job in the last year.

The Iowa Division of Labor says the 57 workers who died on the job lived in all corners of the state – from Muscatine and Liberty, to Storm Lake, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. They were truck drivers, software engineers, county court workers and grain elevator operators. Iowa Federation President Charlie Wishman says workers died in car accidents and from chemical exposure. Some lost their lives falling from high ladders or other on-the-job accidents that turned out to be fatal.

There are various Memorial Day gatherings around Iowa today, honoring all Americans who were killed in the line of military duty.

There are more than 1-point-6 million Iowans in the workforce. The industry with the most workers in the state – almost 226-thousand people – is manufacturing.

(Wilton, Iowa) – A collision at an intersection southeast of Wilton, in eastern Iowa’s Muscatine County, Sunday, resulted in one person dead and two others injured. According to the Iowa State Patrol, a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee was traveling east on 120th Street a little after 6-p.m., when the driver failed to obey a stop sign at the intersection with Taylor Avenue.

The SUV entered the intersection and struck a southbound 2017 Chevy Equinox broadside. The impact caused the Chevy to roll over. One of the occupants of the vehicles died at the scene. One person was transported by helicopter to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, while another was transported by EMS to Genesis East Hospital.

All of the accident victims were wearing their seat belts. No names were immediately released. The accident remains under investigation. The Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office, Wilton Police Department and Iowa DNR.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a woman was arrested this (Sunday) afternoon, on an Assault charge. Authorities say Deputies in Adams County arrested 34-year-old Cassandra Kate Mitchell, of Corning, for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. Mitchell was taken into custody at around 1:35-p.m., and transported to the Adams County Jail, where she was being held without bond.

(Omaha/Valley, NE) – Officials with the National Weather Service in Omaha, Sunday, said they had confirmed 12 EF-0 spin-up tornadoes associated with the derecho that moved through the region on Friday, May 24th. The Weather Service says “Quasi-Linear Convective System (QLCS) moved acrossthe area during the late night hours where several scattered tornado spin-ups were reported. QLCS tornadoes tend to be weaker and shorter-lived on average than those associated with supercell thunderstorms.”

In southwest Iowa, tornadoes occurred Friday south of Treynor, 3-miles east of Henderson, and two-miles north of Westphalia. Details are posted below:

..South of Treynor Tornado…

Survey Summary:
This very brief spin up remained near Aspen Road and 300th street south of Treynor. Three grain bins were destroyed as well as numerous trees.

Rating: EF0
Estimated Peak Wind: 83 mph
Path Length /statute/: 0.25 miles
Path Width /maximum/: 60 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Start Date: 05/24/2024
Start Time: 03:00 AM CDT
Start Location: 4 S Treynor / Pottawattamie County / IA
Start Lat/Lon: 41.175 / -95.6151

End Date: 05/26/2024
End Time: 03:01 AM CDT
End Location: 3 S Treynor / Pottawattamie County / IA
End Lat/Lon: 41.1782 / -95.613

..Henderson Tornado…

Survey Summary:
This brief spin up tornado damaged trees at a farmstead as well as outbuildings.

Rating: EF0
Estimated Peak Wind: 74 mph
Path Length /statute/: 2.09 miles
Path Width /maximum/: 60 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Start Date: 05/24/2024
Start Time: 03:10 AM CDT
Start Location: 3 E Henderson / Montgomery County / IA
Start Lat/Lon: 41.1316 / -95.3649

End Date: 05/24/2024
End Time: 03:10 AM CDT
End Location: 4 ENE Henderson / Montgomery County / IA
End Lat/Lon: 41.1582 / -95.3457

..Westphalia/Earling Tornado…

Survey Summary:
This brief spin-up tornado damaged roofs off an outbuilding and downed several trees.

Rating: EF0
Estimated Peak Wind: 80 mph
Path Length /statute/: 0.09 miles
Path Width /maximum/: 40 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Start Date: 05/24/2024
Start Time: 03:13 AM CDT
Start Location: 2 N Westphalia / Shelby County / IA
Start Lat/Lon: 41.7524 / -95.3859

End Date: 05/24/2024
End Time: 03:13 AM CDT
End Location: 2 N Westphalia / Shelby County / IA
End Lat/Lon: 41.7531 / -95.3844

*********

EF Scale: The Enhanced Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0…Weak……65 to 85 mph
EF1…Weak……86 to 110 mph
EF2…Strong….111 to 135 mph
EF3…Strong….136 to 165 mph
EF4…Violent…166 to 200 mph
EF5…Violent…>200 mph

NOTE:
The information in this statement is preliminary and subject to change pending final review of the events and publication in
NWS Storm Data.

DES MOINES, Iowa (WHO-TV] – Ryan Hall is a YouTuber and Meteorologist who live-streams severe storms. He and his team were live-streaming Tuesday (May 21st), when an EF4 tornado hit the town of Greenfield in Iowa.

Andy Hill, one of the storm chasers part of Hall’s team was on the ground Tuesday and said that they started raising money as soon as they saw the damage to the town. The non-profit Y’all Squad stream was activated following the Greenfield tornado event, and made available to everyone watching. In the next few hours, they raised $93,000 from those people watching the stream and talking about it.

The Y’all Squad is a charity that Ryan Hall created to help support victims of tornadoes and other severe storms. Caleb Beacham, the Y’all Squad Field Coordinator, said that the charity was formed about 17-months ago for severe storm events, to make it possible for live-stream viewers to donate.

The Y’all Squad arrived hours after the tornado stuck Greenfield and provided critical supplies and meals. They also gave one of the families whose home was destroyed by the tornado $30,000 to help recover.

To learn more about the Y’all Squad, visit the charity’s website.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report the driver of a 1999 Chevy Suburban was cited for Driving without a valid license and arrested for OWI, following a property damage accident Saturday night. Authorities say the vehicle driven by 34-year-old Christopher Roland Bird, of Creston, was traveling south on Spruce Street near the intersection of Prairie and Spruce, when Bird turned left off of Spruce to continue east on Prairie. As the Suburban was turning east, it struck a legally parked 2008 Chevy pickup and trailer. The trailer was loaded with two UTV’s. The truck, trailer and both UTV’s were damaged. The damage to those items were estimated at $10,000 altogether, according to Police.

The accident happened at around 10:17-p.m. Police say Bird was unable to provide proof of financial liability (Insurance). His vehicle sustained $5,000 damage. No injuries were reported. Authorities said contributing factors in the crash included “Operating [a] vehicle in a reckless, erratic, careless [or] negligent manner.”

DES MOINES, Iowa [KCCI] — The line of severe storms that swept across Iowa Friday morning was in fact a derecho (pronounced “duh-RAY-cho”). That confirmation came from the Storm Prediction Center, which determined the powerful system met its criteria after plowing through the Midwest from Nebraska all the way to Illinois.

In simple terms, a derecho is a complex of thunderstorms that produces straight-line wind damage over a very long path. That damage path has to exceed 400 miles in length and must be at least 60 miles wide. Wind gusts have to exceed 58 mph (severe thunderstorm criteria) over most of the path, with occasional gusts above 75 mph.

The derecho that walloped Iowa Friday morning checked all those boxes. Reports of 60-70 mph gusts first came out of southwest Nebraska Thursday night. By 3 a.m. Friday, severe winds had arrived in western Iowa and would persist all the way into Illinois.

In Iowa, gusts above the 58 mph threshold were reported as far north as Estherville, and as far south as Highway 92, making the damage swath well over 100 miles wide. Finally, the system produced multiple high-end wind gusts (75+ mph) along its path, including an 83 mph gust in Monona County, 75 mph winds in Greenfield, and an 84 mph gust recorded near Newton.

Many Iowans hadn’t heard of derechos until a particularly powerful one struck Aug. 10, 2020.

Derechos actually happen with some regularity but are rarely as strong as the 2020 storm.

Historically, part of Iowa experiences a derecho every 1-2 years. Since 2010, a total of 14 derechos have hit somewhere in the state.

• May 24, 2024
• June 29, 2023 (southern Iowa)
• July 5, 2022 (northern Iowa)
• May 12, 2022 (northwest Iowa)
• Dec. 15, 2021
• Aug. 10, 2020
• July 20, 2019 (northern Iowa)
• June 28, 2018
• July 19, 2017 (northeast Iowa)
• June 22, 2015
• June 30, 2014
• June 24, 2013
• July 11, 2011
• June 18, 2010

DES MOINES, Iowa — Two people are in custody following a shooting Saturday evening outside of the Knapp Center in Des Moines. KCCI report Police said officers heard gunfire and recovered one firearm. No one was injured. Several officers with the Des Moines Police Department were already at the Knapp Center due to Roosevelt High School’s graduation ceremony, which was going on inside. Des Moines police said officers heard gunfire around 5:35 p.m. outside of the Knapp Center.

Investigators say a handgun was found on one suspect, while a second one was found in one of their vehicles. Police said they were able to lock down the area quickly, thanks to the police already present. Following the gunshots, Des Moines police said a fight involving more than five individuals broke out inside the arena. Pepper spray was used to break up the fight.

Des Moines Public Schools released the following statement on the incident:

“Late this [Saturday] afternoon, while honoring Roosevelt High School’s graduating class, a number of people ran into Drake University’s Knapp Center and began telling attendees there had been a shooting outside. This caused commotion and a brief disruption to the ceremony while Des Moines Police and Drake Public Safety responded quickly to the scene to ensure everyone inside was safe.

Superintendent Ian Roberts was informed there was no immediate threat to the commencement, shared with the crowd that it was safe inside the arena, and the ceremony resumed so that every graduate present was able to walk across the stage and receive their diploma.

While the incident is not believed to have any direct connection to the Roosevelt commencement ceremony, Principal Steven Schappaugh informed Roosevelt families of changes to [Saturday night’s] Senior Night celebration were made as a precaution and the school district would have additional security in place for two commencement ceremonies on Sunday.”