Images from the town of Greenfield show a path of utter destruction, with homes reduced to splinters, debris strewn everywhere and several large wind turbines toppled.
“This tornado has devastated a good portion of this town,” said Alex Dinkla, a spokesperson with the Iowa State Patrol, during an evening press conference in Greenfield.
“We can confirm there have been multiple fatalities with this tornado.”
At least a dozen people in Greenfield, a town of about 2,000 people, were injured in the twister, Dinkla said. Because the local hospital sustained damage in the storm, those people had to be transferred to facilities in nearby towns.
The National Weather Service had issued tornado warnings and severe thunderstorm advisories for much of Iowa and several other Midwestern states on May 21, including parts of Minnesota, and Wisconsin.