From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
Severe weather, including a possible tornado, whipped through eastern Iowa late yesterday afternoon. The National Weather Service received a number of reports of a tornado touchdown in an open field just northeast of Ely in Linn County at around 5:15 p.m. Large hail and some wind damage was also reported from the storm.
Rivers in northern Iowa are reaching their crest and are starting to fall in some areas that have suffered extensive damage since storms first hit over the weekend. In North Sioux City, officials say the collapsed railroad bridge has sunk deeper into the Big Sioux River. Officials say crews can’t try to fix the bridge until the water levels decrease. Sioux City officials say water is no longer overflowing the levee but people in about 50 homes have not been able to return yet.
The Cedar River in Cedar Falls is expected to crest this afternoon just below major flood levels. The National Weather Service projects the river to quickly start falling Thursday and be back in its banks by the weekend.
The Cedar crested around noon Tuesday in Waverly. Some streets are closed because of minor flooding. But the mayor says Waverly was prepared for much worse. Wartburg College opened dorm rooms to anyone displaced by flood waters but the college says no one needed the temporary housing.
The Cedar River in Cedar Rapids continues to climb with a projected crest this weekend two feet over flood stage. That would create moderate flooding along the riverfront.
The Iowa Utilities Board has given Summit Carbon Solutions the power to force landowners to allow a carbon pipeline to go through their property. But opponents say they will sue to stop it. For the past three years, Ames-based Summit Carbon Solutions has worked through the process for the pipeline that would tunnel through 29 of the state’s 99 counties, along with North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota. The project would transport carbon dioxide given off by ethanol plants through the pipeline to an underground storage facility in North Dakota.
