10 twisters confirmed in Iowa

DES MOINES (AP) ? A tornado swept through the small western Iowa town of Mapleton Saturday night, destroying downtown buildings and flattening a grain elevator.

?It was huge, just huge,? said Thomas Mohrhauser, an attorney who lives in the town of about 1,200 people. ?It just kept getting bigger and bigger.?

Mohrhauser said the tornado appeared to be about a quarter-mile wide when it cut a northwest path through town. Several downtown buildings were destroyed, a grain elevator was knocked down, the roof was blown off the high school and power lines were down throughout the town, he said.

National Weather Service meteorologist Van DeWald confirmed Mapleton received ?quite a bit of damage? from the tornado, which hit about 7:20 p.m.

A nurse says three people were treated for minor injuries at Burgess Health Center in Onawa, about 20 miles from Mapleton.

A Monona County Sheriff?s dispatcher said authorities blocked access to Mapleton except to emergency crews because of the heavy damage. The dispatcher, who declined to give her name, wouldn?t give details about injuries.

Mapleton is about 40 miles southeast of Sioux City.

Gov. Terry Branstad issued a disaster proclamation for Monana County, allowing the state to spend money to respond to the storm.

The National Weather Service has confirmed 10 tornadoes from the 27 that were reported.

The most severe struck Mapleton.

The Des Moines Register says National Weather Service experts have confirmed two twisters struck Ida County on Saturday night. There were four more in Sac County, two in Pocahontas County and one in Kossuth County.

The weather service?s Davenport office reported no twisters overnight Sunday or early on Monday, despite ripe conditions. Damaging storms were reported in Wisconsin.