While not Tornado Alley, any longtime Iowan can tell you the Hawkeye State has been a Bulls-Eye target of many monster storms.
For folks in Cedar Rapids, nightmares of the derecho of 2020 (which left a record-setting damage path of $11 billion in its wake) are everywhere. And Mother Nature has been targeting Iowa with severe storms much more frequently.
For tornadoes alone, Iowa saw an increase of 90 twisters from 2020-22 (191 total) from the same time period a decade before (2010-12, when just 91 cyclones hit the Hawkeye State), according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center data. That’s an 89.1% increase in Iowa tornado activity over the last decade, which ranks the state third nationally for highest tornado spike average behind only Georgia and South Carolina.
In 2023 alone, 72 tornadoes touched down in Iowa according to the National Weather Service.
Welcome to May: The Mayday Month of Iowa Twisters
If only the bad news stopped there. May is traditionally the highest risk month for tornadoes in Iowa. With a higher risk for tornadoes comes a stratospherically higher risk for home storm damage. As Lending Tree notes, 2023 had the most tornado-involved billion-dollar disasters of the last decade.
Last month, a wide-ranging tornado traveled from Omaha to the small Western Iowa town of Minden and destroyed 20 homes, Jamie Xayavong, the town’s fire chief told The Des Moines Register.
“It’s heartbreaking to see these people who have lost houses, cars, essentially their life until they have to rebuild it,” Pottawattamie County Chief Deputy Jeff Theulen told National Public Radio.
While no one – not even the meteorologists and storm chasers in the upcoming Hollywood blockbuster “Twisters” – can predict when and where the next Iowa tornado will strike. We all can take smart precautions to make our homes as ready as possible for the next monster storm.
Staying Two Steps Ahead of An EF-5
Tornado readiness begins with making sure your home’s primary severe storm defenses are performing at optimal strength. For without a strong first line of defense, homes have little to no defense against severe storms.
“You don’t have to replace your roof and windows at the first sign of wear, but don’t wait to replace them until they spring leaks or fall apart,” LendingTree home insurance agent Rob Bhatt advises. “Additionally, several companies offer discounts for updating your plumbing and electrical systems or replacing an older HVAC with a newer model. These won’t necessarily protect you from wind and hail damage, but they can make your home a little more safe — and less expensive to insure.”
Hail’s Widespread Wrath
It’s not just tornadoes that can bring severe home repair pain. Don’t forget to have your home ready when Mother Nature decides to test her unpredictable hail fastball. Washington County south of Iowa City for example is one of the country’s most at-risk counties for hail damage.
“Hail can smash windows and roofs, accumulate and clog storm drains — which leads to flooding — and can injure or even kill humans and animals,” home service site Roof Gnome told Fox Weather. “It can also damage your solar panels, gutters, HVAC systems, and other expensive elements of your home. Just fixing your roof after a hail storm can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.”
Also, before the next severe thunderstorm strikes Eastern Iowa, make sure you know your exact coverage in your homeowners policy.
We can never anticipate the exact arrival and threat extent of severe weather, but we all can make sure our homes are as ready as possible.
For the next severe Iowa tornado is coming. The only questions are when, and do you have a ready response plan for your home and family?
“Tornadoes are always gonna occur in Iowa. They’ve always occurred in Iowa,” said Walker Ashley, an atmospheric scientist and disaster geographer at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, told The Cedar Rapids Gazette. “We’re only just examining changes in risk.”
