Iowa State Police confirm deaths and injuries as tornadoes rip through counties

Millions of people in states from the Great Plains to the Midwest were at risk of tornadoes on Tuesday, including Iowa, where several tornadoes touched down near Des Moines and caused extensive damage.

A “devastating” tornado struck the town of Greenfield, Iowa, southwest of Des Moines, causing deaths and injuries in the area, Sergeant Alex Dinkla of the Iowa State Patrol said at a news conference Tuesday evening.

The Adair County Memorial Hospital team serving Greenfield was damaged by the tornado, Dinkla said, but still managed to treat patients and transport some to nearby hospitals for further treatment.

Search efforts were underway on Tuesday evening, with officials working to establish a clear and accurate number of those affected, the official said.

“We believe we have everyone covered, but we are conducting extensive searches to be thorough,” he said.

The National Weather Service had issued tornado warnings for parts of Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas and Oklahoma through Tuesday night.

According to the National Weather Service, which issued several tornado warnings, almost the entire state of Iowa was in a “particularly dangerous situation.”

On Tuesday, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds approved the declaration of a state of disaster emergency for 15 counties across the state.

Counties include Adair, Adams, Cass, Clay, Hardin, Harrison, Jasper, Kossuth, Marshall, Montgomery, Page, Palo Alto, Pottawattamie, Tama and Warren.

Multiple videos captured by ABC affiliate station WOI in Des Moines showed a large funnel cloud on the ground in Greenfield.

On Tuesday, WOI reporter Dana Searles, who surveyed the damage in Des Moines, said: “In this small community, a lot of it is destroyed, but about half is still intact. From what I’ve seen, I would estimate that about 75 percent of it is currently almost completely destroyed.”

Damaging winds of 70 to 90 mph were forecast for Des Moines, Chicago and Milwaukee from Tuesday afternoon into the evening.

Severe weather is in full swing across the Great Plains and Midwest. More than 100 severe storms were reported Monday from Colorado to Michigan.

At least three tornadoes were reported Monday in Minnesota, Nebraska and Colorado, but there was no significant damage.

In Yuma, northeastern Colorado, hail ranging in size from golf balls to softballs struck the area, causing damage to cars and buildings. At one point, the hail was so severe that several vehicles got stuck, JJ Unger, a volunteer firefighter from Yuma, told ABC News on Tuesday.

“It was like a snowstorm that hit for half an hour because of the hail,” Unger said. “This is the longest I’ve seen hail like this.”

Unger said he and his fire department were searching for possible tornadoes Monday evening when lightning struck and hail began to pour.

“It was very intense,” Unger said, adding that he and his crew had to stop and seek shelter as visibility dropped to almost zero.

Unger said when the hail finally subsided, a foot of hail covered his fire truck and roads in the area.

He said the windshields of his pickup truck and his wife’s vehicle were shattered.

“Almost every house in the city has broken windows and I heard over a thousand cars were damaged,” Unger said.

In Nebraska, hail measuring five centimeters in diameter fell in Dundy County in the southwestern part of the state, according to local emergency officials. Wind speeds exceeding 90 miles per hour were also reported in Dundy County.

With severe weather expected across the Great Plains and Midwest through Thursday, potential record heat is moving to Texas and the Northeast.

By the middle of this week, temperatures could reach 90 degrees in Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, DC.