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JEFFERSON, Iowa — Wednesday night’s storms lived up to their billing. A low-pressure system moved across the state bringing wicked wind gusts and thunderstorms.

Thursday, thousands are still without power and 43 counties have been declared disaster areas by Governor Kim Reynolds. The hardest-hit areas are in western and northern Iowa.

At Randy Monthei’s home in Jefferson, a massive tree was uprooted and dropped onto his home. Another tree smashed his barn and other buildings.

He and his wife took shelter in the basement during the storm. They are now staying in a motel until the trees are cleared and their home is safe to move back into.

Neighbors and friends turned up as soon as the storm passed last night to start with the cleanup and they were back at it Thursday at the crack of dawn.

“Friends had called and said he’s got damage and so I went and came out and looked with another friend of mine and we were just amazed at how bad it really is, and it’s worse in the daytime than it was last night,” said friend Loren Turner.

He said cleanup will take a while and it’s difficult to figure out where to begin.

“And today, it’s just to figure out what to do first. What do we do? Get somebody in, take the trees off the house. See the damage, same way with the rest of this, get the trees moved so we can actually work. Clear the buildings if we can. Move him out if he needs to be, find a place for his possessions to go so that they are safe. A lot of work. We’ll be here a week,” said Turner.