Severe storm splits and topples trees, cuts power in parts of Charles City

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The streets and lawns of Charles City were littered with limbs and leaves Tuesday evening after a severe thunderstorm blew through the area.

Large parts of the city were without power, in some cases until Wednesday afternoon, including residences and businesses.

The city of Charles City reported that 18 MidAmerican Energy trucks and crews were in town working to restore power, including replacing power poles that drooped lines across South Grand Avenue.

Numerous large branches that split off trees were down throughout the area, sometimes blocking traffic until the city Street Department could pick them up or at least push them out of the way.

The city asked residents to place fallen tree debris by the curb for city crews to collect, with the final passes expected Friday.

Tyler Mitchell, director of the Charles City Department of Parks and Recreation, said the city got a call from some people who were walking through Wildwood Golf Course after the storm and reported a tree on fire where a limb had touched a power line.

Police and the Fire Department responded, along with Mitchell, but he said the fire had mostly extinguished itself by the time authorities arrived.

Wildwood Municipal Golf Course was closed Wednesday because of tree damage and flooding, but was open again on Thursday.

South Grand Avenue was barricaded Tuesday evening and part of Wednesday because power poles had been bent or downed along the Charley Western Trail and power lines were hanging dangerously near the road.

MidAmerican Energy reported that a third of its customers in Floyd County had been affected by the storm, with 1,562 customers without power. The company reported 11 outages in Charles City, affecting 1,375 customers Tuesday evening about 8 p.m.

Kwik Star on South Grand Avenue said it was without power long enough that it had to dispose of items in its coolers.

As of about noon Wednesday, MidAmerican reported 153 customers still affected in Charles City and 259 total in Floyd County. By Thursday there were no reported outages in Charles City or Floyd County.

Floyd County Dispatch fielded calls throughout the evening Tuesday of downed trees affecting traffic, including one report of a tree across a railroad track.

Emergency Management Coordinator Jason Webster posted an update Tuesday about 7:30 p.m. on the Floyd County Emergency Management Agency Facebook page.

“Well, it definitely got a little spicy out there for a little while,” he wrote, adding, “lots of fire personnel, law enforcement officers and utility workers are going to be working into the night.”

He credited the Floyd County Communications Center dispatchers as doing a great job of taking reports of power lines down, trees and limbs down on vehicles and blocking roadways, and some structures being reported to be damaged as well.

“Please stay at home and avoid going out to look around if you don’t have to be out,” Webster advised Tuesday evening after the storm had passed. “The lines down over streets and sidewalks are very dangerous themselves. And with it getting dark out soon, obstacles and other hazards will be difficult to see.”

Earlier in the day Floyd County had been under a flood advisory, with the Cedar River possibly nearing flood stage, but that advisory was lifted late Tuesday evening with a forecasted crest of under 8 feet. The lowest flood stage category for the Cedar in Charles City is 9 feet.

The actual crest was 6.91 feet at midnight Tuesday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The river was running at 6½ feet by Thursday afternoon.

According to the National Weather Service, Charles City received a total of 4.38 inches of rain so far this week.