DUNKERTON- The heaviest tornado damage in Black Hawk County centered in the rural areas both north and west of Dunkerton.

Black Hawk County Supervisors declared a local disaster area on Monday to go along with the state disaster declaration issued by the governor on Sunday. That designation could help the county qualify for federal aid. County officials say at least 50 homes in the county are a total loss--but no one's come up with a dollar damage estimate yet.

The losses near Dunkerton were hard to take because some of the same areas hit by a tornado in 2000 were hit again on Sunday.

Black Hawk County farmer Jim Dos told TV9 he escaped a big tornado once before--watching it approach his farm within a quarter mile only to see it skip up and over. This time he didn't see it coming and it didn't miss.

"All of a sudden the power went off and we went outside to check the generator for our operation to make sure everything was fine and while standing out there the winds came up and the whole place fell apart in 15 seconds," Dos said.

Two homes on Dos' farm sustained major damage but the real loss was all the farm buildings and equipment. He's the only;y poultry farmer in Black Hawk county and the buildings housing a total of 200,000 chickens collapsed.

An estimated 100,000 or more of the birds survived, but Dos says he's not sure they can be rescued because the building isn't stable enough to allow anyone to enter the wreckage. Like most farms and homes hit in the rural areas near Dunkerton, friends and neighbors quickly pitched in to help clean up. The process of recovery could take a long time especially for the farms that lost expensive machinery and storage buildings.