Elvis Hayes, of Manilla, picks up tree debris at the Nishnabotna Cemetery on Saturday morning. A tornado that passed through the cemetery caused extensive damage to trees. Some gravestones were pushed off their bases. Photos by Gordon Wolf

Two tornadoes passed through the Manilla area and one passed through the Buck Grove area last week Friday night. The towns of Manilla and Buck Grove were not hit.

Extensive tree damage was done, most notably at the Nishnabotna Cemetery located on a hill along Highway 141 west of Manilla.

Some farm buildings in rural Manilla were destroyed or damaged. Debris from the damage could be seen scattered in farm fields.

One tornado that hit the Manilla area, classified as an EF-2, came from a system that was in Shelby County. National Weather Service information says that this tornado lasted from 6:28 to 6:44 p.m. and had estimated peak winds of 112 miles per hour. The path length was 9.24 miles and the maximum width was 200 yards.

The second tornado to hit the Manilla area also came from the same storm system that was passing through Shelby County. It was classified as an EF-1 and had estimated peak winds of 107 miles per hour. The path length was 12.32 miles and the maximum width was 200 yards. It lasted from 6:51 to 7:08 p.m.

**Tractors were called in on Saturday to move tree debris at the Nishnabotna Cemetery.**

Story Ads 1

**Justin Johnson drags a tree limb to put on a pile of tree debris at the Nishnabotna Cemetery west of Manilla.**

According to the National Weather Service Damage Assessment Toolkit, building damage caused by the EF-1 tornado included total destruction of four farm buildings, an uplift or collapse of roof structure to three farm buildings and the collapse of walls on one farm building. It also caused wooden power poles to lean.

The EF-2 tornado caused the total destruction of a farm building just northwest of Manilla.

Along with the tree and building damage in rural Manilla, a Manilla Fire Department vehicle was damaged in the storm. Manilla Fire Chief Corey Gaskill said department members were in the vehicle checking houses after the first tornado passed through when the second tornado came upon them. The tornado threw a grain bin into the truck. The impact shattered the back window, took paint off the skid unit, broke all the mirrors and actually chipped the windshield from the inside. The firefighters were not hurt but were covered in glass, said Gaskill.

The Buck Grove tornado lasted from 6:31 to 6:34 p.m. The path length was 2.02 miles and its maximum width was 40 yards. Estimated peak winds are unknown. It remained in open land so a damage rating cannot be made.

A map that accompanies this story shows the paths of the two tornadoes that struck the Manilla area. As a reference point, the arrow for the Manilla tornado #1 path is just north of Manilla.

A second map shows the path of the Buck Grove tornado with the paths of the Manilla tornadoes to the right. Buck Grove is to the northwest of the graphic of the tornado path.

Another story that shows the power of tornadoes came from Wayne Collins. He was checking a pasture near Buck Grove when he came upon a piece of a business sign, four feet by eight feet in size. He didn’t recognize the phone number on the portion of sign and posted a picture of it on Snapchat. He later began getting comments that the number was a Minden phone number. A friend asked if he could put the photo on Facebook. The communication on social media eventually made its way to the owner of the business who called Collins. The building associated with the sign – West Central Roofing – was destroyed. The sign traveled more than 40 miles from Minden to the pasture near Buck Grove. Collins said the business owner will pick up the portion of the sign sometime when he is in the area.

**This piece of sign traveled over 40 miles from Minden to a pasture near Buck Grove.** Submitted Photo

These maps from the National Weather Service in Des Moines show the paths of the two tornadoes that went through the Manilla area and the tornado that was southeast of Buck Grove the evening of Friday, April 26.

This map from the National Weather Service in Omaha shows the path of the tornado that caused destruction in Minden. One person died as a result of the tornado and three were injured. The EF-3 tornado had a path of 40.9 miles and a maximum width of 0.97 mile. It lasted from 5:25 to 6:29 p.m. on April 26. It’s estimated peak wind was 160 miles per hour. According to the National Weather Service, the tornado formed east of McClelland while the previous Treynor/McClelland tornado was in the process of dissipating. The tornado tracked north-northeast through the eastern part of Minden, to the immediate east of Tennant, the west of Harlan and the immediate east of Defiance before dissipating just south of the Shelby-Crawford county line.

Gov. Reynolds requests expedited Presidential Disaster Declaration for severe weather

Governor Kim Reynolds has requested an expedited Presidential Disaster Declaration for nine Iowa counties where significant damage was sustained from severe weather that occurred on April 26.

The governor requested funding under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Individual Assistance Program and the activation of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Loan Program for Clarke, Crawford, Harrison, Mills, Polk, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby and Union counties.

Funding under the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Individual Assistance Program provides disaster-affected homeowners, renters, and businesses access to programs and services to maximize recovery, including assistance with housing, personal property replacement, medical expenses, and legal services.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Loan Program provides homeowners, renters, businesses, and most nonprofit organizations in the affected counties whose property was damaged or destroyed by this disaster, the ability to apply for low-interest disaster loans from the SBA.

In addition, the governor requested funding to conduct hazard mitigation activities for the entire state.