Hail damages homes, vehicles in Iowa Wednesday night

DENISON, Iowa -- Although a tornado touched down Wednesday evening in Crawford County, most of the property damage was reportedly caused by hail, rather than wind.

"The hail was from golf ball to baseball-sized," said Crawford County Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Miller, who noted that local fire departments, as well as several trained weather spotters kept him up-to-date as a line of thunderstorms rolled through the area.

The storms spawned a tornado that cut a path from just south of Charter Oak all the way up into Sac County around Wall Lake.

Miller said the roofs, siding and windows of homes in Crawford County were damaged by hail. He said a lot of vehicles sustained hail damage to hoods, roofs and trunks. Windshields, as well as side and back windows were also broken out.

"We had trained spotters that were following the tornadic activity. It did touch down once in a field, but did not cause any damage," said Miller, who also said many farm fields were washed out by heavy rain and will need to be replanted.

Miller estimated the damage caused by the storms at "several million" dollars.

"What I'll do is declare it a disaster area and ask for assistance through the FSA (Farm Service Agency) for the farmers and also for individual assistance for those that either did not have insurance or need help repairing their roofs and siding," he said.