Strong storms wreak havoc in northeastern Iowa Tuesday night

Over the past 24 hours, Winneshiek County has seen around 1.5 to 2 inches of rain, with higher than normal temperatures. High Winds also caused tree and property damage, especially in Ridgeway, where 80-mile and hour winds were recorded. 

The average temperature was 70.9, much lower than the 76.3 degrees felt yesterday, which was muggy and humid prior to the storms.

 Flooding concerns were mitigated throughout the county, as rivers rose due to rainfall locally, but also from heavy rainfall north of the county, flowing down. 

The Upper Iowa River at Dorchester was at near flood stage, expected to peak over 12 foot, but recorded at 5 foot near Bluffton.

The Turkey River rose from 6 foot at 4 p.m. last night to just over nine feet this morning – minor flooding stage.

Erring on the side of caution, area schools were dismissed early to ensure student safety due to high winds predicted during regular busing times. 

The storm was labeled a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” (PDS) by regional television news sources. PDS is a term used by the National Weather Service (NWS) to indicate that conditions are favorable for destructive tornadoes.

The storm hit the Driftless Multimedia coverage area around 6 p.m. Wednesday and caused power outages, downed trees and limbs and damage to area structures. At least one tornado was reported near Ossian, but by about 8:30 p.m., most of the storm had cleared the area.

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