116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Stormy day in Eastern Iowa leaves some damage behind
The Gazette
Jul. 12, 2020 10:51 pm
Two rounds of storms marched across Eastern Iowa on Saturday, the first bringing gusts about 65 mph near Independence and the second later in the day bringing gusts of 90 mph around the Quad Cities.
The National Weather Service received dozens of reports of large hail, along with torrential rain, heavy straight-line winds and power outages throughout Eastern Iowa. The wind uprooted trees, snapped power lines and flattened corn.
Saturday morning, near the Paris area of northern Linn County, wind shook loose grain bins and sent them tumbling across a field and flattened some barns. Fire crews reported multiple trees down near Martelle in Jones County.
Advertisement
Later in the day, in the second round of storms, trained weather spotters reported many trees were split in half and large branches came down near Central City. A metal shed blew away in Marion. A flagpole, along with many tree limbs, snapped in Anamosa.
At 6:20 p.m., crews from the Iowa Department of Transportation reported a utility pole in Mechanicsville in Cedar County toppled, blocking traffic. In Henry County, the weather service recorded reports of heavy damage to a homestead - with three garage doors blown in and windows on three sides of the house smashed.
A storm system producing heavy rain, hail, strong wind, thunder and lightning moves toward Cedar Rapids on Saturday, July 11, from alongside Highway 30 near Newhall. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)
A motorcycle rider passes along Highway 30 near Newhall as a severe thunderstorm producing heavy rain and hail is seen drawing near on Saturday, July 11, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)