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Once You See the Size of the Hail That Rained From the Nebraska Sky, You'll Understand Why Residents Are Dealing With Broken Windows

Once You See the Size of the Hail That Rained From the Nebraska Sky, You'll Understand Why Residents Are Dealing With Broken Windows

"It's as black as the ace of spades."

DES MOINES, Iowa (TheBlaze/AP) — Shattered windows, dented cars and flooded homes -- that's what residents in Nebraska and Iowa are dealing with after baseball-sized hail, heavy rain and high winds pummeled cities Tuesday as powerful thunderstorms moved through a swath of Midwest states.

Mindy Rump holds golf ball-sized hail stone for a photographer following a severe thunderstorm in Blair, Neb., Tuesday, June 3, 2014. Severe weather packing large hail and heavy rain rolled into Nebraska and Iowa on Tuesday as potentially dangerous storms targeted a swath of the Midwest, including states where voters were casting ballots in primary elections. (AP/Nati Harnik) Mindy Rump holds golf ball-sized hail stone for a photographer following a severe thunderstorm in Blair, Neb., Tuesday, June 3, 2014. (AP/Nati Harnik)

The windows of new cars are blown out at a dealership in Blair, Neb., Tuesday, June 3, 2014. Severe weather packing large hail and heavy rain rolled into Nebraska and Iowa on Tuesday as potentially dangerous storms targeted a swath of the Midwest, including states where voters were casting ballots in primary elections. (AP/Nati Harnik) The windows of new cars are blown out at a dealership in Blair, Neb., Tuesday, June 3, 2014. Severe weather packing large hail and heavy rain rolled into Nebraska and Iowa on Tuesday as potentially dangerous storms targeted a swath of the Midwest, including states where voters were casting ballots in primary elections. (AP/Nati Harnik)

Just take a look at what the hail was like falling from the sky among cars and note the splash it caused when filmed hitting water in a pool:

WOWT-TV has more documentation of the damage in its report:

Tuesday's storms also caused severe flooding and prompted reports of tornadoes.

Some residents were evacuated from low-lying homes, and Eppley Airfield airport closed for several hours.

"It's just completely flooded these areas, and these homes are now filling up with water in their basement areas, so we're pulling people out," said Omaha police spokesman James Shade, noting a 95-year-old woman in a wheelchair was rescued.

An Omaha Firefighter carries an elderly woman from a life raft after rescuing her from a flooded home in Northeast Omaha, Neb., Tuesday, June 3, 2014. Severe weather packing large hail and heavy rain rolled into Nebraska and Iowa on Tuesday as potentially dangerous storms targeted a swath of the Midwest, including states where voters were casting ballots in primary elections. (AP/The Omaha World-Herald/Brynn Anderson) An Omaha Firefighter carries an elderly woman from a life raft after rescuing her from a flooded home in Northeast Omaha, Neb., Tuesday, June 3, 2014. (AP/The Omaha World-Herald/Brynn Anderson)

Police also used boats to assist dozens of drivers stranded in floodwaters around the city. Shade said many cars remain stuck on those flooded streets.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad issued Tuesday night a proclamation of disaster emergency for Pottawattamie County in the western part of the state, which will allow officials to use state resources to respond to the effects of the storms.

The Weather Service received reports of two motels with roofs torn in western Iowa's Missouri Valley.

On Interstate 29 north of Council Bluffs in western Iowa, more than 25 vehicles had their windows shattered by hail, said Terry Landsvork, an observation program leader for the National Weather Service in Valley, Nebraska.

"They were driving along Interstate 29, had no place to go, and whether they were driving or pulled over, they just didn't escape the hail," he said.

Collin O'Connell, crane operator, holds pieces of hail that pummeled McHugh Metal in Norfolk on Tuesday afternoon. (Jake Wragge/Norfolk Daily News) Collin O'Connell, crane operator, holds pieces of hail that pummeled McHugh Metal in Norfolk on Tuesday afternoon. (Jake Wragge/Norfolk Daily News)

The storms impacted primary elections in Iowa and South Dakota. Officials in Pottawattamie and Montgomery counties in Iowa, where polls closed at 9 p.m. CDT, reported closing some precincts temporarily due to poor weather.

"It's nasty here. You can't imagine," said Pottawattamie County Auditor Mary Jo Drake. "It's as black as the ace of spades."

The National Weather Service said reported winds of up to 85 mph in Iowa and Nebraska. The storm also tracked across Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota and Illinois.

"This is one of these days we can't let our guard down," said Bill Bunting, forecast operations chief at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Bunting said several trained spotters reported tornadoes in central and southwest Iowa, and at least one report came in from southwest Kansas. Reports will not be confirmed until damage can be assessed Wednesday morning.

Becky Kern, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Valley, Nebraska, said the system has involved a "training" of thunderstorms, which involves a series of thunderstorms following one after another. The system will move to the southeast early Wednesday, toward parts Missouri and Illinois, she said.

"It looks like the threat has pushed further south into northern Missouri, the strongest of the storms," she said.

In South Dakota, where polls closed at 8 p.m. CDT, a morning thunderstorm forced Senate candidate Mike Rounds, who was flying to Rapid City, to land in Pierre.

The severe weather threat arrives amid an unusually quiet late spring, with far fewer documented tornados in May than in many recent years. Bunting said the main concern Tuesday night was widespread straight-line winds.

"As we like to say, it doesn't have to rotate to be dangerous," he said.

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