FORT MADISON – A wicked storm that blew through the area Thursday morning left the city and many homes with substantial damage, mostly from falling trees and limbs.
The storm had winds clocked at between 70 and 80 mph with dangerous lightning causing most of Fort Madison to be out of power at one time or another following the start of the storm at around 11 a.m..
However, rainfall was short-lived and the area is certainly still in drought conditions.
Both Keokuk and Fort Madison police departments have asked residents to stay off the roads as much as possible as multiple agencies are working to get roads cleared and services, including electricity, restored.
Alliant Energy put out several notices indicating when power would be restored. Most of the city was back up before 5 p.m.. However internet services were still spotty as of 6:30 p.m. throughout the community Thursday.
Fort Madison Public Works Director Mark Bousselot said all city crews were working to clear streets of debris and get city services up and running.
“What I understand is that it’s mostly tree damage. I heard some reports of power lines being down, but for the most part were working to clear the streets,” he said.
He said it was his understanding, but unconfirmed that Alliant had to shut power down to most of the city due to all the wires down in their service area.
“This is widespread damage so it’s going to take a while. We’ve got a heck of a pile of trees and limbs out there. The next couple days we’re gonna try to get all the roads open and within the next couple of weeks, get all the debris cleaned up," Bousselot said.
With so much debris throughout the city, officials at Great River Waste Authority said they would take brush at no charge until next Friday, but only storm-generate brush such as tree limbs and branches.
Bousselot said city workers will pick up debris next to the street if is manageable by the property owners.
“If it’s stuff they can pull to the curb we’ll pick it up and take it, but it has to be debris that’s manageable to handle.”
Fort Madison firefighters and police were working at several locations with chain saws cleaning up roadways.
Two firefighters and two Fort Madison Police officers were trying to get Avenue F opened up where several trees had fallen into the roadway.
Old Settlers Park had substantial tree damage. Downed tree limbs covered about 60% of the playground area and damaged a fence on the south side near the basketball courts.
Trees did extensive damage to several homes on the city’s east side. Traffic lights at 33rd Street and 48th Street were without power until about 2:30 p.m.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association didn’t confirm any tornados on the ground in Fort Madison, but did confirm a tornado in Niota.
Jason Dinwiddie, the Lee County Emergency Management Agency director said there is widespread damage from Montrose to Keokuk.
“You can’t go barely 50 feet without running into something bad here in Montrose,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my time here.”
He said the stained glass window on the Presbyterian Church was blown out and there’s a hole in the building you could drive a truck through.
He also said there will be two shelters open, one in Montrose and one in Keokuk.
“We are setting up two shelters for people on oxygen or if people just need to come there. The fire station in Montrose should be open at about 7 p.m. and the YMCA in Keokuk will be open.
No serious injuries were reported, but there was a dispatch of someone getting hit by lightning. Dinwiddie said he spoke with the National Weather Service briefly Thursday.
"I spoke with the National Service to just inform them of our damage. They will have a damage estimate team in the area soon."
Several semi-trailers were flipped on their side after pulling over due to the high winds near the 3100 block of Hwy 27, according to Lee County Sheriff’s deputies.
Straight line winds blew part of the chimney off of the Union Presbyterian Church in the 800 block of Avenue F in Fort Madison.
Fort Madison Mayor Matt Mohrfeld said he circled wagons with the city staff quickly after the storm rolled through.
“We’re prioritizing what’s in the streets and then we’ll work into the right of way. The Fire Department had several calls and were also out trying to block off streets and mitigate downed wires,” Mohrfeld said.
“Everybody snapped into it pretty quick. I’m pretty proud of that. But I have to stress the priority will be getting the streets clear.”
Mohrfeld said he hasn’t heard of any significant injuries from the storm in Fort Madison.
The National Weather Service out of the Quad Cities is predicting additional rounds of storms with a 30% chance Friday morning before 1 p.m. and late Friday evening. Rain is predicted for most of the weekend into Monday with showers and possible thunderstorms.
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