Storm cleanup underway in Cerro Gordo — Hancock County receives state disaster proclamation

(This story updated at 11:30 AM with news of Hancock County receiving disaster proclamation from Governor Reynolds)

CLEAR LAKE — The cleanup is underway after severe storms containing high winds ripped through north-central Iowa overnight. 

== There was extensive damage in Cerro Gordo County in the communities of Clear Lake, Ventura and Rockwell. Numerous campers were flipped over at the Clearwater Campground on US Highway 18 between Clear Lake and Ventura, but no injuries were reported. Rockwell law enforcement reported shortly after 2 o’clock this morning that almost every road in town was blocked due to trees down or tree debris, with some property damage throughout town to vehicles and some structures. 

Cerro Gordo County Emergency Management Coordinator Eric Whipple says no injuries have been reported to county officials.  “Luckily no injuries were reported through the whole incident in the county. There were some fortunate folks in the campground just between Clear Lake and Ventura where three of their camper trailers had flipped over onto their tops. They were in the campers at the time, most of them sleeping, and escaped with no injuries, so that was good.”

Whipple expects storm damage cleanup to last through the rest of the week. He asks people who have had storm damage to report all damage to the county through their website.  “Fill out that form and send it to us. We’ll get that in email form and then what we do is we’ll be able to forward that on to the state for the potential of a governor’s signed proclamation of a disaster area. Obviously there are going to be several counties that will probably be considered for that, and I think Cerro Gordo County is one of them.” Click at this link to find the form

For more of Whipple’s comments, click here

== Garner saw major damage from the storms. City officials made a local disaster proclamation early this morning after the high winds brought down trees, limbs and power lines throughout the town, and some homes, businesses and properties suffered damage.

Governor Reynolds late this morning issued a disaster proclamation for Hancock County and three other northwest Iowa counties.

Winnebago & Hancock County Emergency Management Coordinator Andy Buffington earlier this morning prior to the governor’s proclamation said they were hoping to get that proclamation from Reynolds as soon as possible.  “The state of Iowa has changed some rules somewhere . We’ve been frustrated because we want that proclamation to go back to the flooding event that affected folks in other areas of Hancock County, notably Woden and Klemme and areas of Britt, and those surrounding areas. We had people with water in their basements. I’ve been working on that for a couple of weeks. Hopefully this will get the governor’s attention.”

Buffington says Garner residents are being asked to report their storm damage to the city.   “In Garner, what the city is asking everyone to do is to go ahead and call in to City Hall at 923-2588 and report what they’ve got going on, their damage. They’re trying to just track everything as far as what that damage looks like. Obviously all of that is going to be passed on. What will come of it is pretty hard to say. It depends on how widespread it is and things like that. We’re tracking all the public resources that we’ve been using all night. “ 

You can listen to Buffington’s full comments to our sister station KIOW by clicking here

The National Weather Service in Des Moines says more thunderstorms are possible later this evening, with the potential once again for severe weather. We’ll keep you up to date here as well as online at northiowanow.com and on our North Iowa Now Facebook page.