MASON CITY – A line of storms hundreds of miles long continues to pass through North Iowa, bringing with it torrential downpours and strong winds, and more bad weather may be in store.
North Iowa has been mostly spared from the worst of the storm, with tornadoes reported a half-mile wide in Oklahoma. The line of storms stretched from North Texas to Minneapolis. In the immediate North Iowa area, Mitchell county got the worst of it with flooding causing most roads to become impassable. As of Monday morning, there is still a flood warning for all of Mitchell county and the northern half of Floyd County.
The National Weather Service in Des Moines is calling for rain all week and potentially sever weather yest Monday, with hail and strong winds possible.
Bob and Tandi Nedved of Duncan, Iowa (near Britt in Hancock County) endured the strong rains and wind gusts on Sunday.
“I was in my room reading and it just got black very quickly. My husband, Bob, was outside when it hit and came running in the house saying we should maybe go to the basement. I went around the house making sure the windows were shut. While doing this I would glance outside and see trees being blown so hard the tops were near the ground. It started to subside as fast as it started. We just watched out the window until we were able to go out and assess the damage,” said Tandi.
The strong winds whipped through the area around 3:00 pm.
“We have not seen anything like this for a while. Bob’s cousin lives down the road and they got hit pretty hard also. Just glad no one got hurt.”
In Mason City, Jack McCourt reported that early afternoon rains pushed two cars a few dozen yards in a parking lot on the city’s south side.
“Picked ’em right up and away they went,” McCourt said.
