Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has issued a State of Emergency for Monona County after a 3/4 mile wide wedge tornado struck earlier this evening.
Sioux City Journal:
MAPLETON, Iowa -- A devastating tornado struck the town of Mapleton, Iowa, around 8 p.m. causing multiple injuries, cutting all power and wiping out blocks of the Monona County town of 1,294.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has already approved an emergency proclamation for Monona County in response to tonight's tornado.
A large threat for tornadoes still exists for northern Iowa and southern Minnesota, with numerous tornado warnings in effect associated with supercells generally moving off to the northeast.
Here's a video of the tornado on the ground, from YouTube:
Here's another video from local media, who doesn't allow embedding of the video on other webpages.
And yet another video showing the extent of the damage caused by this large tornado in Mapleton a few hours ago...
When daylight breaks tomorrow, National Weather Service crews from the local weather forecast office will go out to the scene of this and any other tornadoes that develop tonight and assess the damage. I'll post their findings in a diary tomorrow, and I'll post any further updates on this Mapleton tornado as they come along.
Update -- 1144PM CDT
Here's a scary story of how the weather caused a packed school play to come to a halt, from Sioux City Journal:
Members of the crowd and cast were then divided into two groups and moved into a pair of underground locker rooms.
"We didn't realize the severity of it," said Maddie Walsh, an MVAO senior acting in her final high school drama production. "At different times in school we've had to go to the basement. We were laughing and cracking jokes about how we wouldn't forget this play."
The mood grew serious as a school warning siren sounded. One child began crying. Loud crashes outside could be heard.
[...]
Walsh said they emerged into a hallway near the entrance where the roof had collapsed. Outside she could see one of the two MVAO greenhouses was missing. The other was flipped and torn.
[...]