Given all the storms that were hammering Kansas over Memorial Day weekend, you may not have heard much about an EF5 tornado that raked Iowa on May 25. It was one of five that hit eastern Iowa that night.
The Des Moines office of the National Weather Service reports that the largest tornado killed 6 people and injured at least 70 and was on the ground for 43 miles. It ranged in width from just over a half-mile to almost 1.2 miles wide shortly before dissipating.
People may think the larger a tornado is the more powerful it is, but with this tornado that was not the case. The tornado was little more than a half-mile wide when it hit Parkersburg with EF5 force – winds of more than 200 miles an hour – and had dropped to EF2 when it was more than a mile wide.
Security cameras in a bank on the edge of Parkersburg captured compelling footage of the tornado as it tore through the city. A lobby security camera shows what happens as the tornado strikes, and a second security camera shows a house across from the bank being blown away. KCCI-TV in Des Moines showed footage of the house being blown away and footage from other security cameras at the bank.