UPDATE: Mid American Energy Spokesman Geoff Greenwood says during the height of a strong storm that hit the Des Moines area late Tuesday afternoon, there were 85-hundred customers without electricity, mostly in downtown Des Moines, and on the city's south side.
He tells WHO News the utility enlisted the help of extra crews and contract workers, plus tree removal crews to help restore the outages as quickly as possible.
Des Moines Police were kept busy late this afternoon and evening with tree debris blocking numerous roads.
There are numerous reports of tree damage in Des Moines, and in other locations where strong storms hit Tuesday afternoon. In the Humbolt County Iowa community of Thor, there were reports of large trees that fell onto houses.
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Scattered severe storms pelted parts of north central and western Iowa Tuesday afternoon.
In downtown Des Moines and areas to the south, a strong storm toppled trees, power lines and several property damage accidents occured along south Des Moines streets. The heaviest part of the storm was on the south side, at one point with a Des Moines police officer reporting that traffic signals were out in many areas of the south side of Des Moines.
By 5:45pm the storm moved out of the downtown area and appeared to lessen in intensity as it headed to the northwest.
The storms were moving fairly quickly, while scattered intense thunderstorms are causing concern in western Iowa. Hail up to nickel-size was reported in that storm.
Keep Tuned to WHO Radio for the latest weather information.