More bad weather could hit Iowa, where 3 powerful tornadoes caused millions in damage

GREENFIELD, Iowa (AP) — For block after block through the small city of Greenfield, Iowa, the destructive power a tornado that ripped apart more than 100 homes in just one minute is evident in the muddy, shattered mess left behind.

All along the mile-long swath Thursday was the deafening clamor of heavy equipment scooping up the splintered homes, smashed vehicles and shredded trees. But on either side of that path, picturesque houses and lawns seem untouched, and one might be hard-pressed to believe a twister packing peak winds of 175-185 mph (109-115 kph) had ravaged the community of 2,000, killing four people and injuring at least 35.

More than 202 homes were destroyed by a series of tornadoes that raked the state on Tuesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Thursday at a news conference. Most were in and around Greenfield. The count does not include businesses or other buildings destroyed or damaged, like Greenfield's 25-bed hospital.

The havoc spun by the tornado now shows on the faces of people still processing how quickly homes and lives were shattered.

Among those killed were Dean and Pam Wiggins, said their grandson Tom Wiggins.

On Thursday, Tom Wiggins tried to find any of his grandparents' mementos that remained after the tornado demolished their home, leaving little more than its foundation. He described them as “incredibly loved by not only our family but the entire town.”

Not far away, Bill Yount, 64, also was cleaning up.

“It’s like somebody took a bomb,” said Yount, gesturing to the land — covered with wood, debris, trees stripped of their leaves, heavy machinery and equipment to clean up the mess.

Also surveying the damage was 80-year-old Edith Schaecher, who was briefly trapped in her collapsed house with her daughter until neighbors helped them out. They sought shelter in a basement concrete shower, holding pillows over their heads to protect from the falling debris.

“It was over within probably 30 seconds,” she said, destroying the home where she had lived for 47 years.

Schaecher's neighbor, Joan Mitchell, was with her 57-year-old son in the home she'd lived in for 10 years when the tornado roared through.

She had ignored the tornado warnings — until she was knocked to the floor and two recliners flew on top of her.

“I kept praying and praying, and after that I started hollering, ‘Help! Help! Help!’” Mitchell recalled. Both she and her son survived with bumps and bruises.

The governor praised the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response on Thursday as she sought a disaster declaration for multiple counties. After surveying Tuesday's destruction, the National Weather Service determined that three separate powerful tornados carved paths totaling 130 miles (209.21 kilometers) across Iowa, according to Donna Dubberke, the meteorologist in charge in Des Moines.

Colton Newbury, 24, was working in Des Moines when the twister hit, nearly 60 miles (97 kilometers) away from his wife and 10-month-old daughter at their home in Greenfield.

He rushed back only to find their home was “a hole in the ground,” he said. His wife hadn’t heard the sirens. Newbury said his cousin ran out to get his wife and baby, and they rode out the tornado in the cousin's basement. The winds pulled entire homes away, he said: "About every house on the block, just foundations left."

Still more severe weather was moving across the Midwest. The weather service's Storm Prediction Center shows an enhanced severe storm risk late Thursday into Friday morning for much of Nebraska and western Iowa, including areas where tornadoes hit Iowa and hurricane-force winds, large hail and torrential rain flooded streets and basements in Nebraska. Tornado warnings were issued Thursday evening for southwestern Oklahoma and in central Texas.

This latest band of severe weather — including possible tornadoes — will hit Iowa “when people are sleeping," warned National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Ansorge of Des Moines.

“Because of the damage already there, it won’t take much wind to inflict even more damage on these homes,” Ansorge said. “It’s just a bad deal all the way around.”

More severe weather also could hit Saturday and Sunday in storm-damaged parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. An emergency was declared in Temple, Texas, after powerful storms ripped through the city of more than 90,000. Thousands lost power, Thursday’s classes were canceled and nearby Fort Cavazos reported debris blocking traffic at the Army installation.

The Greenfield twister is one of the strongest this year, which the National Weather Service identified Thursday as an EF4 — the second-most powerful ranking assigned to tornadoes.

The year's deadliest tornado previously had been one that killed three people in Logan County, Ohio, on March 14. The Greenfield tornado set a new grim record as it obliterated homes and crumpled massive power-producing wind turbines outside the city.

It was so destructive that it took authorities more than a day to account for the area's residents, and Iowa's Department of Public Safety said the number of injured is likely even higher. Officials haven’t yet released the names of the Greenfield victims.

A fifth person was killed Tuesday about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Greenfield when her car was blown off the road in a tornado, according to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. Monica Zamarron, 46, died in the crash Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

Reynolds has requested an expedited presidential disaster declaration for those Iowa counties that sustained significant damage. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell joined her at the news conference in Greenfield and said that her agency will process the request as quickly as possible to get resources — which could include funding for temporary housing — to those left without homes.

This is a historically busy tornado season in the U.S., in an era when climate change is heightening the severity of storms around the world. April had the country's second-highest number of tornadoes on record.

Through Tuesday, 859 tornadoes had been confirmed this year, 27% more than the U.S. sees on average, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Iowa has recorded the most, with 81 confirmed twisters.

Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; and Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Missouri, contributed.

Jena Wiggins looks to recover items from her husband's grandparents' tornado-damaged home, Thursday, May 23, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Tom Wiggins sorts through debris at his grandparents' tornado-damaged home, Thursday, May 23, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks during a news conference after touring tornado damage, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Kimberly Ergish holds flowers as she cleans out belongs from her tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Local residents clean up debris from a tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A man talks on his cell phone in front of a tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Local residents clean up debris from a tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Local residents clean out their tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A worker fixes a line above debris from tornado damaged homes, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A man takes a photo in front of a tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A flag hangs in a tree near tornado damaged homes, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Workers survey the damage of a tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Debris from tornado damaged homes is seen, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A woman walks out of the basement of a tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Kimberly Ergish holds flowers as she cleans out belongs from her tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Workers search through the remains of tornado-damaged homes, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Local residents walk among the debris from tornado damaged homes, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A man sorts through the remains of a home damaged by a tornado Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks with a worker at a command station after touring tornado damage, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Tornado damaged property is seen, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

This satellite photo taken by a BlackSky Technology satellite on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, shows the damage a tornado caused when it tore through Greenfield, Iowa, a day prior, Tuesday, May 21. (BlackSky Technology via AP)

Local residents hug in front of their tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The remains of a tornado-damaged wind turbine touch the ground in a field, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, near Prescott, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Tornado damaged property is seen, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Local residents hug in front of their tornado damaged home, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Damaged cars sit piled up next to a road after a tornado Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge on Friday rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term “unborn human being” to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters will use to weigh a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Whitten said the wording the legislative council suggested is “packed with emotion and partisan meaning” and asked for what he called more “neutral” language. The measure aims to expand abortion access from 15 weeks to 24 weeks – the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb.

It would allow exemptions to save the woman’s life or to protect her physical or mental health. It would also prevent the state from adopting or enforcing laws that would forbid access to the procedure.

Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma, who is a co-chair of the legislative council, said the group will appeal the court’s decision to the state Supreme Court.

“The ruling is just plain wrong and clearly partisan,” said Toma, a Republican.

Aaron Thacker, communications director for Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, noted that the final decision on the ballot itself remains in the air.

“There’s still a lot of scenarios at play," he said. "Even after the secretary certifies the signatures, the courts have to decide if counties can put it on the ballot or not."

Arizona for Abortion Access, the organization leading the ballot measure campaign, sued the council earlier this month over the suggested language and advocated for the term “fetus,” which the council rejected.

Attorney General Kris Mayes wrote in a motion to submit an amicus brief that “fetus" and “pregnancy” are both neutral terms that the council could adopt.

“It’s incredibly important to us that Arizona voters get to learn more about and weigh our measure in objective and accurate terminology,” said Dawn Penich, communications director for the abortion access group.

Democrats have centered abortion rights in their campaigns in this year’s elections. Organizers in five other states have also proposed similar measures that would codify abortion access in their state constitutions: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota.

Arizona organizers submitted more than double the amount of signatures needed for the measure to appear on the ballot.

FILE - Arizona abortion-rights supporters deliver over 800,000 petition signatures to the capitol to get abortion rights on the November general election ballot July 3, 2024, in Phoenix. A judge on Friday, July 26, rejected an effort by GOP lawmakers to use the term “unborn human being” to refer to a fetus in the pamphlet that Arizona voters will use to decide on a ballot measure that would expand abortion access in the state. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)