A Minimum of Six Unconfirmed Tornadoes Touched Down
Kamis, 26 Mei 2011 by Android Blackberry
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| tornado touched down |
It was the second consecutive day of severe weather across the state, which included a storm Tuesday that killed two persons in Stafford County.
1 tornado Wednesday was reported in Louisburg about ten:50 a.m., Miami County Undersheriff Wayne Minckley stated. He stated officers saw the twister lift a pickup, spin it and drop it for the ground. The driver escaped with minor injuries because the storm moved north toward downtown Kansas City, Mo.
Authorities in Stafford County said Sharon Gleason pulled her Ford Explorer off U.S. 281 north of St. John to seek shelter from the storm about five p.m. Tuesday. She parked under a sizable cottonwood tree subsequent to a farmstead's driveway, Stafford County Sheriff Jeff Parr stated.
A tornado struck the farmstead, uprooting the cottonwood and smashing it into the Explorer. Gleason, 56, and her 17-year-old son, Jeffrey, had been killed.
Her daughter, 21-year-old Kristin, was seriously injured. She is in fair condition at a terrific Bend hospital.
"It was an extremely massive cottonwood," Parr mentioned. "The two that were killed had been inside the front seat with the Explorer."
The tornado was 1 of 10 confirmed twisters that touched down in central and western Kansas on Tuesday, said Larry Ruthi, meteorologist in charge in the Dodge City branch of the National Climate Service.
It really is not unusual for motorists to seek shelter from hail storms underneath significant trees, Ruthi stated.
"Most from the time, that's a relatively protected point to do," he mentioned.
At least a single other injury was reported in Barton County.
The tornadoes had been element of an outbreak that killed at least 14 men and women in 3 states, including four in Arkansas and eight in Oklahoma, authorities said. Storms may have killed a man in Texas whose burned physique was located near a downed power line.
Whilst many thunderstorms raced through the Wichita metropolitan region, no tornadoes touched down.
But Wichita could effortlessly have already been added to a developing list of cities hammered by tornadoes, meteorologist Robb Lawson said.
"There was a fairly huge tornado west-southwest of Enid (Okla.)," Lawson said. "Had it kept on course it would have come perfect by Wichita. Luckily, it collapsed."
The tornado threat inside the Wichita place was stifled by all of the strong thunderstorms that fired up in Oklahoma on Tuesday, Lawson stated. Rain from the storms cooled the surrounding place, lowering the instability of the atmosphere adequate that storms forming farther north did not create tornadoes.
"Wichita lucked out," Lawson mentioned.
Harm reports from Wednesday's storm in the Kansas City region had been minor, mentioned Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. But places all through a great deal from the state were nonetheless reporting energy outages, tree damage and minor flooding from Tuesday's storm.
Gov. Sam Brownback urged Kansas residents to have an emergency plan in place. He stated lives had been saved when a tornado hit Studying on Saturday evening for the reason that many residents had planned in advance to visit a United Methodist church for shelter.
"I know I tend to get complacent about storms once they come through... thinking, 'Well, OK, I've lived in Kansas my whole life. This is not going to influence me.' Nonetheless it does," Brownback stated.
"I would actually just hope that persons would pay interest towards the alarms once they go off, particularly when they're in their region, that they would have a plan ahead of time about what they would do."
Cleanup continued in Studying, where Saturday's tornado killed a single individual.
"Recovery appears to become going properly," mentioned Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, director with the Kansas Division of Emergency Management and also the adjutant general. "The town is receiving very good assistance from surrounding communities and from volunteer organizations, as well as individuals.
