A 54-year-old man died in Des Moines on Thursday morning after a falling tree struck him just before 8 a.m. during severe storms, as utility crews across Iowa kept working to clear damage and restore power.
The man was hit in Des Moines and died at the scene, marking at least one confirmed storm death as the day’s cleanup unfolded. MidAmerican Energy said Thursday afternoon that it had restored power to more than 17,000 customers from Wednesday’s storms, but 65 customers were still without electricity at noon and were expected back online by 6 p.m. Thursday.
The utility said more than 300 line workers and 150 tree crew were out in the field, with outages mainly tied to downed trees, broken poles and damaged power lines. MidAmerican was also working Thursday afternoon to restore service to around 2,600 customers in Waterloo and Charles City, with full restoration expected by noon Friday.
Even with that progress, the outage picture remained uneven. Around 10 a.m. Thursday, Poweroutage.us listed 1,743 people without power in Black Hawk County, 1,075 in Keokuk County, 647 in Grundy County and 485 in Butler County, showing how quickly conditions could change from one county to the next as crews moved through the hardest-hit areas.
The storm response reached beyond power restoration. Cities including Asbury and Dubuque offered free storm debris collection, flooding was seen on Edgewood Road Thursday afternoon, and all activities were canceled until 1 p.m. Re-evaluation for open swim was set to happen as weather progressed, and driving ranges were closed for the rest of the day Thursday.
The fatality underscored how violent the storm system was even as most of the immediate attention remained on utility repair and cleanup. The remaining question is how much broader the damage will prove to be once crews finish assessing the storm’s full toll across Iowa.
