(This information is current as of 6:30-a.m.) Here is a compiled report of power outages/customers affected in the area:

Cass County: 96 customers (90 with Guthrie County REC; 5 MidAmerican Energy; 1 Nishnabotna Valley REC)

Adair County: 18 customers (11 Guthrie County REC; 7 with Farmers Elec. Coop)

Adams County: 16 customers of Southwest REC

Audubon County: 523 customers (508 w/Guthrie Co. REC; 12 MidAm. Energy;3 Nishnabotna Valley REC)

Guthrie County: 656 customers (474 Alliant Energy; 175 Guthrie Co. REC;7 Midland Power Coop)

Shelby County: 228 customers (224 MidAm Energy; 4 Nishnabotna REC)

Pott. County: 1,297 customers (1,290 MidAm Energy; Scattered Harrison County & Nish REC’s)

Montgomery County:123 MidAm. Energy customers

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Storm Damage Assessment Teams will fan out across the state today, to get a better idea of the damage caused by what many have called a “Decemderecho.”  Winds gusting at 80-miles per hour or more caused widespread damage to property, and claimed at least one life. Here in Cass County, at least two video/spotter confirmed tornadoes touched down, one happened about a mile north/northwest of Atlantic. The other crossed Interstate 80 from Cass into Audubon Counties. Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon reports there appeared to have been to be a path of damage spanning from just southwest of Atlantic to the northeast of town, affecting homes, silos, and outbuildings. Another tornado was confirmed three miles south/southwest of Brayton at around 5-p.m., Wednesday. A storm spotter reported flipped semi’s and power flashes. (See the complete [initial] report of damage on the Weather page at kjan.com)

Authorities closed Olive Street north of Atlantic from Chicago Road to Dallas Road last night, due to power lines across the road. Cass County Communications confirmed the road was still closed as of 5:30-a.m. today, but it was expected to re-open sometime this morning. The Sheriff’s Office advised motorists to use caution this morning, as there is a considerable amount of debris, power lines and poles down in some roadways. Numerous power outages were reported across the listening area, including Atlantic. One outage occurred last last night, when transformers blew between Olive Street and Wal-Mart. The power was restored a few hours later.

The line of fast-moving thunderstorms developed Wednesday afternoon in north central Kansas, and started moving to the northeast at 70 to 80 mph. We’ll get a better idea of the damage after daylight.

(Radio Iowa) – The Transportation Commission has approved rules to allow vehicles not owned and operated by the state to use flashing white warning lights in work zones. The D-O-T’s Dave Lorenzen, says state law governs the color of lights used. “The reason is they want to make sure that the public is given kind of a consistent pattern of what this color of light means with this type of vehicle. We all know when there is a blue and a red light flashing on a light bar that it is either a fire, E-M-S, or law enforcement vehicle,” Lorenzen says.

He says the law was changed to allow the D-O-T vehicles to use the flashing white lights and the rule change expands that to non-D-O-T vehicles. He says the white will be used by the D-O-T on the back of special trailers towed in work zones to warn drivers they are getting into a dangerous situation. They won’t be on all the time. “We don’t want to create a lackadaisical view where everything looks the same all the time. We need to be able to draw the motorist’s attention to the fact that these are flashing for a reason — you need to slow down, you are getting in the wrong lane or whatever,” he says.

Lorenzen says the lights will give contractors another tool to use to try and keep them safe. “We’re constantly looking at ways we can make our vehicles more identifiable, people can react in a reasonable manner and distance so we don’t have those incidents,” Lorenzen says. He says it’s unfortunate they have to keep spending money on safety features when drivers could easily do it.”The best solution for us would be is if folks would put their phones down and really pay close attention when they are approaching and driving those work zones — because it is not a normal flow of traffic,” according to Lorenzen. “That traffic queue and speeds can change very quickly, and quite frankly those secondary crashes sometimes are more severe than the intial crash.”

Lorenzen says the contractors will be able to decide how they can use the lights to make their work zones safer.

(Radio Iowa) – As 2021 draws to a close, some Iowans are dusting off those shoeboxes or file folders with the past year’s worth of receipts, bank statements and financial papers in preparation for the annual tax chore. Des Moines C-P-A Jeff Strawhacker says there are a few changes this year that will impact many thousands of Iowans. “There’s this provision called the Advanced Child Tax Credit and many people were getting advance payments on that. That all has to be reconciled when they file the return to see if they qualified for those advance payments, if they qualified for the full credits, etcetera,” Strawhacker says, “so that will be a little change for them.”

CPA Jeff Strawhacker

Many Iowans got three pandemic-related economic stimulus checks from the federal government over the past two years, though only one of those three checks is a concern on our latest tax returns.  “If they remember, in 2020 we had two rebate checks that came out that had to be reconciled on the tax return to see if maybe you qualified for an additional rebate,” Strawhacker says. “There was a third one in the spring of 2021 and the same process will have to happen on the 2021 returns.”

Some Iowans traditionally make their charitable contributions at year’s end, however, Strawhacker says recent tax law changes have made those donations something people now do more out of the goodness of their hearts — and less as a tax write-off. “A couple of years ago they increased the standard deduction levels to a fairly high amount so that took away a lot of the benefit of charitable donations,” Strawhacker says. “Depending on where they are on that itemized versus standard deductions scheme, the deductions may not benefit them from the federal but still may from the state.”

If making a big year-end deduction to charity isn’t good from a tax standpoint, he suggests you consider putting more toward your retirement plan instead. For many Iowans, those W-2s should be arriving in our mailboxes or via email in a little over a month, so those who are eager for a refund check will be able to get to work. “Returns should be ready to be processed by end of January-early February,” Strawhacker says. “If they have some investment income, those statements might be delayed a little bit to allow the investment companies to do their accounting and send out correct statements, so those may be pushed back to even late February/early part of March.”

He reminds, its vital to always be aware of your tax situation, employer contributions, retirement plans, mortgage rates and new legislation — to make sure you’re doing things efficiently and to your best financial advantage.

(Cedar Rapids) – One person died during a storm-related accident Wednesday night in eastern Iowa’s Benton County. According to the State Patrol, a 2020 Freightliner semi was traveling south on Highway 151 at around 8:30-p.m., when it was struck by a strong gust of wind and went out of control. The vehicle rolled onto its side and came to rest in the east ditch. The driver – who was not wearing a seat belt – died at the scene. The victim’s name was being withheld pending notification of family.

The accident remains under investigation.

AMU officials report that about 500 customers are without power following storms that rolled through on Wednesday evening. Officials were working on a plan to fix the outage at about 5:30 p.m.

That outage includes the KJAN studios and others on the north side of town.