Hail fell in Washington Wednesday evening. Photo by KCII’s Joe Nichols

Severe thunderstorms rolled across Iowa Wednesday. Washington received just over half an inch of rain yesterday. The KCII Severe Weather Action Team responded to a severe thunderstorm warning at 3:50 p.m. The warning was initially set to expire at 5 p.m. but was extended to 5:35 p.m. During that time a tornado warning was issued for portions of Keokuk and Iowa counties, as well as part of Johnson County.

KCII News spoke with Larry Smith emergency management coordinator for Washington and Keokuk counties who reported a barn had blown over in northeastern Keokuk County due to the straight line winds. A trained weather spotter reported wind gusts reaching 65 miles per hour near Crawfordsville at about 5:10 p.m. Rain, wind and pea-sized hail was reported in the City of Washington. Near Riverside hail three-quarters of an inch in diameter was reported.

According to the National Weather Service a dozen tornadoes were reported.

Seven members of the KCII Severe Weather Action Team responded to bring the live coverage on the air, standing by with emergency generators so that if the power had gone off we’d still be on air to bring coverage of the storms.