Chainsaws are buzzing across southwest and south-central Iowa as residents cut apart some of the hundreds of trees that fell in Tuesday’s severe storms. Some areas report wind gusts of 80 to 90 miles an hour along with heavy rain, flash flooding and large hail. Tornado sirens sounded in several counties last night and at least one twister reportedly touched down about 5:15 near Oakland. Longtime school administrator Jan Harris lives near Oakland and described the moment the storm hit his home.

“During the hail, thank goodness we were all down in the basement when this happened and we came upstairs and an evergreen tree that’s probably between 35 and 40 feet tall and stood in front of our house was totally uprooted,” Harris says. “It wasn’t even splintered. It was completely uprooted completely in one piece and laid across the driveway.”

Joyce Isaacson lives in the small town of Wheeler Grove, between Carson and Griswold. Isaacson says a house of worship in town took some heavy hits. “There’s a country church out here and they have tons of great big cedar trees and at least six of those trees that are really huge have toppled over,” Isaacson says, along with a shed and an air conditioning unit that were flipped over. She says there’s plenty of damage in Wheeler Grove.  “Some neighbors had a grain bin go down and a big camper is flipped upsidedown and a shed was destroyed,” Isaacson says. “We drove around the square and there’s trees down everywhere.”

Late Tuesday, Governor Branstad issued a proclamation of disaster for Pottawattamie County as a result of storm damage. The declaration allows the county to utilize state resources to respond to and recover from the storm’s impact. Donnie Willet, the emergency management coordinator for Adams County, says damage spans the entire county. “Lots of tree limbs down, several homes and outbuildings have had tree limbs fall on them,” Willet says. “We’ve had county roads blocked, streets blocked, got power lines down several places in Adams County, also, down around Lenox, we’ve got major power lines down.”

Brian Hamman, Montgomery County’s emergency management coordinator, says the wicked winds caused extensive tree damage. “We have reports of trees on houses in Emerson and Hastings and numerous trees across roads and blockages,” Hamman says. “Also, north in the county, at Brothers and 380th Street, we had water crossing the road, just a deluge of water which made it very dangerous for people on that roadway.”

Flooded roads were also a big concern in Montgomery and Mills counties. Heavy wind damage is reported in Ringgold and Taylor counties. In Fremont County, a semi was reportedly blown off Interstate 29 near the Hamburg exit. In Page County, heavy rain was the main problem. Street flooding was extensive in Shenandoah.

(Mike Peterson/Radio Iowa)

More than a dozen bridges in Cass County failed to pass a recent inspection, and either must have their maximum weight load lowered and re-posted, or they will need to be closed. That was the word from Assistant County Engineer Rich Hanson, who spoke Wednesday morning before the County Board of Supervisors. Hansen said there are 16 bridges that are in bad enough shape that the posted weight limit needs reduced. Inspectors recommended closing two bridges. One of the bridges, #450, was closed Tuesday. Hansen says that’s the high truss bridge over the Nishnabotna River located near the Schildberg Recreation Area walking path, off of Buck Creek Road.

The other bridge is Bridge #83, known as the Griswold Golf Course bridge. Inspectors cited severe rust as the reason for closing the bridge, but Hansen says the County may keep it open, with a reduced weight limit, instead. It would have a 3-ton weight limit and be restricted to one-lane only. The bridge has a 15-mile per hour speed limit. Hansen said some of the worst beams on the Golf Course bridge are along the west wheel path. He says they’re so badly rusted, you can put your hand through the center part of the beam, but the top and bottom are still intact.

He said they will put a 10×10 curb along the bad section and restrict the lane to a 15-foot width on the east side of the bridge until the replacement project for that bridge is let for bids. Hansen says the bridges have deteriorated since their last inspection in part, due to the salt and calcium on the roads being transferred to the bridges by vehicles passing through them. He said once the rust starts, it’s very hard to stop.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, today (Wednesday), approved the awarding of a contract to Tbb&m, LLC in Greenfield, for reconstruction of the lower floor of the building at 707 Poplar Street. That portion of the building will be used as a new 9-1-1/Communications Center.

The Board held-off on awarding the contract during their meeting last week, because there was an insufficient breakdown of the costs. Cass County 9-1-1 Director Rob Koppert presented a revised listing of the costs through the project’s architects, but it still wasn’t to the Supervisors’ satisfaction. Supervisor Chuck Rieken said he understands why the contractor wouldn’t want to provide too much in the line of specifics. he said the general contractor wouldn’t want to do that unless their bid was accepted. Koppert agreed.

What swayed the board to accept the $365,000 bid, was a reduction in the amount the County will have to pay. Koppert said he had “$75,353 worth of good news” where the cost was concerned. He said the County can pay the entire cost of the HVAC installation with 9-1-1 Surcharge money, instead of property tax dollars, which saves the County $41,800. And, since the generator is required by State law, the County can pro-rate what the usage would be, since the machine would power the entire building, and not just the Comm. Center in the event of primary power failure. A pro-rated amount of $33,563 can be paid for the 9-1-1 Surcharge dollars.

That leaves the County to pay $11,187 on the generator portion, for a total bill to the County amounting to $280,647. $75,353 would be paid through 9-1-1 surcharges.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports two men were arrested Tuesday afternoon in connection with a burglary and theft. Officers arrested 32-year old Joshua Jay Martin,  of Clarinda for second degree burglary of an occupied structure and theft in the second degree, for exercising control over stolen property.Also arrested was 55-year old Jeff Dale Veach, of Clarinda, for being an accessory after the fact.

Martin and Veach were arrested at the Parkview Apartment Complex, located at 1001 E. Main Street. Both men were transported to the Page County Jail and held on $15,000 bond, each. A decision with regard to the filing of formal charges is under review by Page County Attorney Jeremy S. Peterson.