May 23rd Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell held a press conference in Greenfield at Nodaway Valley High School.

Reynolds began the conference by thanking Criswell for coming out to see for herself what the damage was like, and thanked all the emergency crews and Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Cooper for the amazing work they have done in making sure things are organized, and that everyone can do their part to the best of their abilities. She then shared how amazed she was at the progress the community has made in cleaning up debris.

“I was on the ground yesterday, and I can’t even tell you the amount of debris that has been collected and hauled off. And some of those streets, it looked like a different place, you couldn’t even see what was left of the homes in a lot of the areas, and especially the downtown area where so many homes were impacted next to the hospital. Tremendous progress there as well. So, (I) just appreciate first responders, law enforcement, (and) community members.”

Reynolds then shared some statistics from the storm systems that hit the state May 21st, along with mentioning that 11 other County’s Secondary Roads Departments had offered to bring in some of their heavy equipment to help with moving the debris. In Adair County there were 152 majorly destroyed homes, making up the majority of the over 200 reported. The Governor’s Office also submitted an expedited request to FEMA for federal aid, and expanded the Governor’s Disaster Declaration to include a total of 32 counties.

Criswell mentioned that after receiving the expedited request from Governor Reynolds’s office, they started going through the process of trying to get it approved, aiming to have it through as soon as possible. She explained that her trip to Greenfield was one thing that might help get that through faster.

“But me being on the ground here today really helps me understand the actual impact. And as much as I’ve been watching the videos, and seeing the pictures of the tornado damage, it just does not do it justice. When you’re here on the ground and you can see the homes gone, or you can talk to a member who lost their home, and they shared their story of how they just barely escaped death, where they decided to keep safe during the storm. Those are the kind of things that you just can’t get unless you’re here on the ground and talking to people and seeing the impacts firsthand.”

Criswell explained that FEMA team members would continue to evaluate and work with the governor’s team to assess everything, and make sure that whatever assistance could be provided, would be. Later in the day, the National Weather Service upgraded the preliminary ranking of the tornado from an EF3 to an EF4, meaning there were winds from 175-185 mph in the storm.