Power outages and damage to buildings were reported as a result of severe thunderstorms and high winds in southeast Iowa Wednesday night.

At about 8:09 p.m. a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for Washington County and was allowed to expire at 9:15 p.m. Wind damage to power lines caused outages throughout the county, including the cities of Brighton and Keota, parts of Washington, and the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. Damage reports include a roof torn off the Vision Ag building in Keota, torn siding in Brighton, and a blown over shed near Kalona.

Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen measured a 57 mile-per-hour wind gust at about 8:38 p.m., and the Washington County Communications Center ran on their backup generator for at least an hour Wednesday night. Reisen describes the damage calls she has received following the storm, “So the majority of the reports that I’ve heard is power outages in general. We’ve had a couple times where branches fell on power lines, power lines are live, it sparks the branch. I haven’t heard that anything really caught on fire in Washington County as a result of that but the fire departments were all out and about anyway.”

Reisen commented that Washington County’s brunt of Wednesday’s storm was not as bad as she feared, as tornadoes were confirmed in other parts of the state. Residents who incurred property damage from the storm are encouraged to contact Reisen at mreisen@wps.co.washington.ia.us or (319)653-3015.