(Des Moines) Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig visited southwest Iowa on Friday morning as part of Iowa Ag Week and his annual visits to every county in Iowa. Secretary Naig spent the morning in Shelby County visiting farms impacted by severe weather last spring Each day of Iowa Ag Week has had a theme, and Friday’s theme is resilience.
Secretary Naig returned to some of the Shelby County Farms, which were completely devastated by the April 26 tornado, which had wind speeds of 160 miles per hour.
The National Weather Service says the tornado began at 5:25 p.m. east of McClelland and ripped through Shelby County. It tracked north-northeast through the eastern part of Minden to the east of Tennant, west of Harlan, and east of Defiance before dissipating just south of the Shelby/Crawford County Line.
The massive storm left a path of damage estimated at nearly 100 million dollars.
