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Tornado damages Corning farm, but farmer grateful no injuries

Adams County, Iowa farmer Ray Gaesser says his farm was hit by a tornado the morning of June 11^th.

“I watched our strong winds out of the west turn to the east,” he said. “And then it got deathly quiet and I ran back to the basement. Within a minute or two we could hear our doors chattering. We could feel the pressure change in our ears, so it was right over us.”

The Corning-area grower tells Brownfield the damage was widespread.

“We lost 14 grain bins,” Gaesser said. “We lost most of the infrastructure at our house – the grain legs, the towers that go with them, and the pipes. Our whole neighborhood is pretty devastating.”

Gaesser says his crop fields also took a hit.

“We’ve got some fields of corn that are 20-to-40 percent snapped off at the ground that was two feet tall or more,” he said. “The soybeans are shredded up pretty good. We’re not going to replant anything, but still lots of damage not only on our farm but a lot of farms.”

Despite the damage, Gaesser says he’s grateful no one was hurt in the storm.