KANSAS CITY: A spate of tornadoes tore through parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, churning through Wichita and other areas while causing property damage but no immediate reports of deaths or widespread injuries.
Tornadoes skipped across the US Central and Southern Plains and residents braced for the possibility of more, but the twisters primarily affected sparsely populated areas.
A hospital in the town of Creston, Iowa was damaged by a possible tornado, and patients were being moved to hospitals in surrounding communities, according to local officials.
A tornado churned through the city of Wichita, Kansas. Storm chaser Brandon Redmond, a meteorologist with the Severe Weather Alert Team, said the twister passed over his vehicle and lifted it two feet (60 cm) off the ground in an industrial area south of the city. ‘The tornado literally formed over our vehicle,’ he told yesterday Reuters. ‘I’ve never been that scared in my life. … We had power flashes all around us and debris circulating all around the vehicle, sheet metal, parts of a roof, plywood.’
Damage was reported to a mobile home park, and Redmond said there was significant damage in the industrial area on the city’s south side.
Residents in the affected regions hunkered down for more severe weather. The National Weather Service said the worst conditions were expected in Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas, while other areas could see baseball-sized hail and strong winds.
‘Conditions will remain very favorable through the evening for very strong and potentially long-lived tornadoes,’ the National Weather Service said in an advisory. (Reuters)