The National Weather Service confirms an E-F-1 tornado struck about two-miles south and west of Avoca around 2 P-M Wednesday. The twister, which was seen on various pictures captured by motorists and residents, had a path about four-miles long and packed winds of up to 110-miles per hour. Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Coordinator Doug Reed says the tornado cut primarily through rural areas.
“It blew over some trees and took out at least one corn crib and a power pole and blew it across a neighboring field,” Reed says.
The twister next hit an eastbound semi, blowing it across Interstate 80 to the west side and into the ditch. The driver was not injured. It continued north across York Road,and caused the road to be blocked with downed trees and power lines. The twister then entered Shelby County. No injuries were reported. The National Weather Service says while unusual, tornadoes in November are not unheard of.
The most recent outbreak was in 2005, when there were 12 twisters, four of them were weak EF-0s, one was an EF-1, two were EF-2s, while another was an EF-3, packing winds of 136-to-165 miles per hour. Reed says theyt were prepared for this storm.
“Even though it’s November, we just kind of went through our regular protocol with the severe weather threat and had storm spotters and people from the fire/rescue departments already out when the (National) Weather Service told us that things were ramping up for areas of our county,” Reed says. It’s fortunate, he says, the worst of the storm was isolated to rural areas with only minor damage.
