A powerful tornado tore through a small town in the American Midwest on Tuesday, killing multiple people and injuring at least a dozen.
Images from the town of Greenfield, Iowa show a path of utter destruction, with homes reduced to splinters, debris strewn everywhere and several large wind turbines toppled.
“This tornado has devastated a good portion of this town," said Sgt. Alex Dinkla, with the Iowa State Patrol, during an evening press conference.
"We can confirm there have been multiple fatalities with this tornado."
Sergeant Dinkla did not provide a death toll, but said it may not be before Wednesday that figures could be provided.
At least a dozen people in Greenfield, a town of about 2,000 people, were injured in the twister, he said.
The local hospital sustained damage in the storm, meaning those people had to be transferred to facilities in nearby towns.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said she would visit Greenfield on Wednesday morning.
“While it's too soon to know the storm's full impact, answers will come in the hours and days ahead," Ms Reynolds said in a statement.
The governor said the state would provide its full resources to help the impacted areas recover, and reassured residents that support was in place working to provide shelter, food and water, and restore power to thousands of residents.
“I've lived here all my life. I'm just praying that everyone was safe, that everybody's safe, and nobody got hurt," Valerie Warrior, a Greenfield resident, loca station KCCI TV in an interview.
“It was scary, very scary."
Other video showed smashed vehicles and heavy damage to a petrol station in Greenfield.
At least one person, a woman in Adams County, was listed as a storm-related fatality, the county's medical examiner Lisa Brown said, but she did not provide more details.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds declared a "disaster emergency" for 15 counties in the state, unlocking emergency resources for storm response.
Iowa was braced for severe weather after the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center gave most of the state a high chance of seeing severe thunderstorms with the potential for strong tornadoes.
The storms and tornado warnings moved into Wisconsin on Tuesday evening and night, including a warning for the capital, Madison.
