(Polk County, IA) -- Polk County Emergency Management says damage reports continue to come in from the March 5th tornado. Deputy Director Dutch Geisinger tells WHO Radio News that 125 homes were damaged, six were destroyed, and more than 30 have major damage.
He recommends homeowners check their siding and roofs for possible damage and then contact their insurance company to arrange for an adjuster to look out the damage.
Geisinger says they've had dozens of calls for help on their help line (515-323-5221) and 74-calls from people wishing to volunteer to help clean-up.
He says they were very cautious at first about pairing people up, due to some dangerous conditions with downed power lines. He says the response has been very strong from individuals and partner non-profit organizations.
"If we have people who are just self-deploying it's a little bit dangerous to have those folks parking on the roadway looking for a task to do, so we've been pretty cautious about making sure we're doing things the right way," said Geisinger.