(Atlantic) Atlantic residents spent most of the day on Monday cleaning up after a severe thunderstorm littered yards and streets with tree branches and other debris. Two downtown businessmen, Kyle Steffens of Lloyd and Meredith and Brian Ruge from Browns Shoe fit, donated their time and equipment to help clean up the City.
“It went well, we grabbed Brian’s truck, and hooked onto our work trailer and gathered some of the big stuff in the downtown area,” said Kyle Steffens. “It’s pretty bad and much worse in the residential areas. Main Street was littered with a lot of the tree branches with the Christmas lights still attached, it was sad to see all of the broken lights.”
A convoy of pickups and trailers continued to haul debris throughout the day to the Atlantic Yard Waste Site. “It’s nice to see everyone cleaning up and making the town look good again,” said Steffens.
The fast-moving storm system spanned from Fort Dodge to Fremont County in extreme southwest Iowa, leaving a path of downed trees. The strong winds blew two semis off the road near the Interstate 880 and Interstate 80 interchange.
“I came upon the scene maybe a minute or two after it happened,” said Jeff Pelzer, who was driving a fully loaded eastbound semi. “I was hauling 80,000 pounds, and the wind still pushed my truck, and it was terrible for those hauling empty loads.
Wayne Royer lives near Coon Rapids. He said the storm brought high winds and hail in his area of the state. “We lost power three different times, “said Royer. “It was very windy, with a lot of rain and hail.”
The National Weather Service reported 60 mph wind gusts in the Atlantic Area. Sixty-five mile per hour wind gusts near Guthrie Center, 60 to 64 mph wind gusts near Harlan, 58 mph winds gusts near Logan, and 67 mph winds gusts near Eppley Airfield in Omaha. A resident in Gray in northern Audubon County reported wind damage and branches littering Main Street and the north end of the schoolyard, but no cost to the playground equipment.
