Forecasters used some unusually strong words and phrases to warn Iowans and others in the Midwest about the potential for severe weather this past weekend. National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Johnson says the Storm Prediction Center, two days prior to storm, stated there was a “high risk” for damaging storms.
“In my career, that’s pretty unprecedented to go with a day two ‘high risk,’ which is a significant outlook,” Johnson said. A warning that a “tornado outbreak” was “likely” was issued on Friday. On Saturday, at least five tornadoes touched down in Iowa – including a couple of EF2 twisters that caused extensive damage in Creston and Thurman in the southwest section of the state. Smaller tornadoes were reported close to Council Bluffs, near the Oskaloosa airport and near New Virginia in south-central Iowa. Johnson said forecasters are trying to encourage people to take weather warnings seriously.

“We’ve had, unfortunately, a lot of bad tornadoes across the United States in the last two years. Some of the findings from our assessments after these storms has been that people are often too optimistic if they’re in the path of the serious storm – thinking the storm is going to hit somebody else,” Johnson said. “Our purpose with all of this is to try to get people to heed the warnings and take cover.” Despite the warnings, many residents of Creston were surprised by the severity of the storm that swept through their town. The twister dropped down so fast that it went undetected on radar and officials were not able to sound tornado sirens. Johnson said the “rain-wrapped” tornado wasn’t spotted until his office started hearing damage reports.

“We had an amateur radio spotter in that area who reported hail at about the time of the tornado. They didn’t mention the tornado because they couldn’t see it,” Johnson said. “Coupled with that, the evidence of (a tornado) on radar was equally weak. It’s one of those cases where it was unfortunate, but that does happen occasionally in this type of an event.” Six people were injured in the Creston tornado, one of them critically. There were no serious injuries in the tiny town of Thurman, although that EF2 twister destroyed at least 14 homes while causing serious damage to 28 other homes.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say a Red Oak woman was arrested Monday afternoon, on a theft charge. 34-year old Julie Crystal Fisher was taken into custody at around 3:45-p.m., on a charge of 4th degree theft. Fisher was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on $1,000 cash bond.

The Iowa State Patrol says two people, an adult and child, where injured late Monday night when the van they were in was struck by a train in Jefferson. The names of the victims, ages 27 and 5, have not yet been released. Officials say they were in a van which had apparently experienced mechanical difficulties and stalled on the railroad tracks crossing North Grimmell Road, near West Wall Street , on the northwest side of Jefferson. The 1998 Chevy Venture van was hit by an eastbound Union Pacific locomotive at around 11:30-p.m., Monday

The Patrol says the child was ejected from the van, which ended up on its top in the north ditch. The driver was out of the vehicle when medics arrived on the scene. The driver was flown by LifeNet helicopter to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, while the child was flown to Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines, also by LifeNet.