Several tornadoes were confirmed near Des Moines, Iowa, as a "large and extremely dangerous" storm took over the area, on Saturday, March 5, the National Weather Service said. (Credit: Jacob Tiernan via Storyful) DES MOINES, Iowa - Four of the seven people killed in devastating storms that tore through central Iowa were members of the same family who had sought shelter inside a home that was razed by a powerful tornado, authorities said.Two children, their father and their grandmother all died when a tornado hit the grandmother’s home near rural Winterset on Saturday afternoon, Madison County Sheriff Jason Barnes told television station KCCI.The children and their parents, from Blue Springs, Missouri, were visiting their grandmother, Melissa Bazley, 63, when the tornado hit.
The storm killed Bazley, 37-year-old Michael Bolger and two of his three young children.RELATED: Officials: 7 dead after tornadoes tore through central IowaA GoFundMe page for the family says Kuri Bolger, who is the children’s mother and Bazley’s daughter, was hospitalized after being seriously injured.
Other members of the family who had sought shelter in the home's pantry also were injured.Two others killed in the tornado — Rodney Clark, 64, and Cecilia Lloyd, 72 — lived in homes just down the street from Bazley that were also hit by the tornado that was rated an EF-3, with peak winds of 138 mph (222 kph), by the National Weather Service.The seventh death came from Lucas County, about 54 miles (87 kilometers) southeast of Des Moines, when a separate tornado struck less than an hour later, injuring several other people.