Motorist Killed in by Tornado in Iowa (May 21, 2024)

[Warren Faidley]

Social media is reporting a “female chaser” was killed yesterday. (5-21) in Iowa. Anyone have information.

 

[Matt Zumbrunn]

11:10 a.m.: Officials confirm one woman killed after storm blew her car off the road Tuesday near Corning​

A woman was pronounced dead after her car was blown off the road north of Corning during Tuesday’s storms.

Adams County emergency responders were dispatched near Highway 148 and Joshua Tree Avenue at 3:30 p.m., Chief Deputy Richard Miller said in a news release. Deputies located the body of a woman, whose name has not been released.

Neighbors told the Register the woman was a storm chaser. Her body was found in their field.

From the Des Moines Register

 

[Warren Faidley]

RIP. So sad.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Huh...

I suppose that is "sad" in some sense of the word, but I'd be willing to bet that there's a lot of information yet to be released (or that never will be known) that sheds a not-so-bright light on the decisions and actions of this victim that led to their fatality. I've been saying since 2013 that I'll never weep again for the death of any chaser killed in action: the dangers are more than well known, and if people still choose to put themselves in a position where this could happen, then I'm not going to act like this was some kind of unpredictable or unavoidable tragedy.

Now, I don't know any of the facts at all. Maybe this person wasn't actually chasing. Maybe this person was an un-knowledgeable local who decided to venture out on a whim and found out what happens when you do that. So I'll do my best to reserve/restrain my judgment until or unless more is known.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Also, I saw a tweet from at least one other chaser claiming the victim was not a chaser, but there was a lot of disagreement within that thread, too. So it's not certain just yet.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Very sad to hear. The news article said that the locals knew her, which would point more toward a local resident going out opportunistically rather than an experienced out-of-area chaser. It could be a Richard Henderson situation that stretches the definition of “chaser” to include any local that goes out to watch the storm with no prior knowledge and equipment, even if it’s only going a mile down the road from their house. No information yet on what part of the chaser spectrum this case falls under.

 

[Brett Roberts]

That is most unfortunate. News articles thus far do point toward this more likely being a local than an established chaser traveling out of state, but of course that still needs to be confirmed.

I thought it was worth noting that another very experienced chaser and respected meteorologist posted on social media about taking a direct impact yesterday E of Red Oak (I'll avoid posting the name here, in case they would prefer it not be broadcast in this form). It sounded like they suffered minor vehicle damage but made it out unscathed, thankfully. Clearly, the fast motions, messy mode, and rapid "unzipping" of new circulations down the line during that 1-3pm timeframe made this a dangerous chase day that demanded immaculate situational awareness.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Curious where these incidents happened? The two tornadoes at Villisca (east of Red Oak) were very close together and in progress simultaneously. But, they were both highly visible (not rain wrapped). The rain-wrapped tornado east of Corning didn’t get going until the heavy RFD precip was already blasting across the road. I looked at video from my dashcams (still working on everything) and couldn’t see any evidence that the tornado was present crossing Highway 34 there. There were at least 3 tornadoes visible from Corning (2 west and 1 east), so when someone says “Corning tornado” they’ll need to be more specific as to which one it was.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Can confirm looking west to east on 34 that both tornadoes were very visible before crossing. I could see where if you were fixated on the west tornado (Villisca) you could have gotten side swiped. The chaser in question does not seem like one to be surprised like that, although we did spend a night together in a field in SD once.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Sad because it was likely an individual who got caught up in the insanity generated by too many stunt people. Of course we don’t know the facts.

I can relay I am aware of a big push to begin removing live chasing footage from both YouTube and X, that started before this event.

 

[Jeff Duda]

...made this a dangerous chase day that demanded immaculate situational awareness.

Or just giving a wider berth on storms. Yeah, rain can make one feel they need to get closer to get a good show, but considering all of the other relevant elements of this setup, one would be fairly closed-minded not to consider simply putting a little more distance to the business ends of the storms.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

Whenever I'm out I see tons of people looking, pointing and taking photos of parts of a storm that have nothing to do with the ongoing circulation and sometimes it makes me wonder how many are out there who don't know how to interpret velocities or identify what's going on at any given moment of the storm. Not saying that was the case in this instance, but yesterday's setup was one that if you didn't know your stuff it could put you in danger quickly, especially if you got caught up in the heavy rain.

 

[John Farley]

This article provides some additional information. The death occurred about 3 miles north of Corning on route 148. What was left of the car was found 300 yards farther from the road than the body. There is still no identification of the person who was killed.

'Lucky again': Tornado kills one in rural southwest Iowa; neighbors describe near-misses

Around Adams County in southwest Iowa, residents cleaned up debris from splintered trees, blown-out windows and scattered belongings.

www.desmoinesregister.com

 

[James Hilger]

I've seen this floating around.

 

[Rick Schmidt]

I drove past this scene not more than 15 minutes after it had happened, but only saw the debris from the house across the street. About 15 minutes later, after being turned around due to a power pole blocking the road, I returned. But this time I pulled over and watched the activity for a few minutes. I did shoot a few photos from my car, right after an ambulance had showed up. It was then I knew what they were observing in the field, then I got a chill, and left.