People survey debris from tornado-damaged homes in Greenfield, Iowa on Wednesday.

The destructive tornado that ravaged the town of Greenfield, Iowa, on Tuesday has left four dead and at least 35 injured, the Iowa State Patrol said in a Wednesday evening news release. 

Authorities are not releasing the names of the deceased at this time pending next of kin notifications. In addition to the fatalities reported in Greenfield, at least one person was killed as storms passed through nearby Adams County, local officials said earlier.

The Iowa State Patrol said the number of those injured from the Greenfield twister “is likely higher, but these numbers reflect only those patients treated for their injuries at designated alternate care sites.” At least 14 patients were taken to medical facilities outside of the county, the release added.

The tornado that carved through Greenfield – about 50 miles southwest of Des Moines – is estimated to be at least an EF3 and the deadliest of the year. 

More than 100 first responders were combing through the wreckage of the town Wednesday, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said. The city’s hospital sustained damage and some patients were moved to other facilities in surrounding areas. At least four medical airlift flights occurred.

A “makeshift hospital” was set up in the city’s lumberyard Tuesday right after the tornado tracked out of the area, State Rep. Ray Sorensen said Wednesday. Sorensen lives in the area and assisted with recovery efforts in the immediate aftermath.

“We pulled a guy from the rubble and put him on a little makeshift stretcher that we made for him on the back of a truck,” Sorensen recalled.

Video taken by CNN affiliate KCCI shows homes and other structures were obliterated and the community is blanketed with heaps of debris, tossed cars and uprooted trees.

“It’s horrific,” Reynolds said Wednesday. “It’s hard to describe until you can actually see the devastation.”

At least 18 tornadoes were reported in Iowa Tuesday – part of a torrent of storms that left widespread power outages, structural damage and flooding across the US this week.

Tornado reports have skyrocketed well-above average in recent weeks as the typically busiest period of severe weather season unfolds. The more than 800 tornadoes reported so far make 2024 one of the most active years for twisters on record.

Greenfield, home to just over 2,100 residents, must now recover from the damage of the deadliest tornado in a year that’s recorded fewer deaths from twisters than 2023. Despite the number of tornadoes this year, there had been 17 deaths from the beginning of 2024 until Tuesday, while 65 people died due to tornadoes during the same period last year.

Nearly 15,000 homes and businesses were in the dark across Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. 

On Wednesday, a tornado hurtled through Temple, Texas – about 35 miles south of Waco – causing widespread power outages and making many roads dangerous or impassable. First responders were flooded with emergency requests and were prioritizing life-saving calls Wednesday night, the city said in a release announcing a disaster declaration. “Currently, no life-threatening injuries or fatalities have been reported,” the release said.