Cleanup, damage assessment continues after SW Kansas tornado

Extremely Close Range Strong Tornado - Niles, Kansas 5-25-16

Storm Damage on Road 110 north of Dodge City- photo KHP

FORD COUNTY The severe weather response continues following Tuesdays tornado in southwest Kansas.

The Ford County Sheriffs Office reported approximately 9 structures were destroyed and hundreds of structures were damaged according to a media release.

Roads Closed:Highway 50 was closed between Cimarron and Dodge City for approximately one (1) hour due to emergency personnel/vehicles responding to severe weather event (now open)Garnett Road between 105 & 110 road due to power lines/poles down (now open)110 North from Garnett to Denim due to debris in the roadway104 between Tillman & Upland due to debris was still closed on Wednesday night.

Tuesday tornado in Dodge City -courtesy photo

Horseshoe between 106 & 107 due to irrigation system in roadway was still closed on Wednesday night.

There were two people that received injuries. One had to be extracted from the home. Both patients have been treated and released from the hospital.

The Severe weather event followed a path approximately 10 miles wide from the southwest corner of Ford County traveling north-northeast into Hodgeman County.

Electric companies are still in the process of repairing downed power poles and power lines and restoring power to some subscribers.

The Red Cross is assisting displaced families. The Red Cross asks that physical items be donated to other local charities and not the Red Cross. Monetary donations can be accepted via social media, full website and by their toll free number.

Hail from Tuesday storm in Ford Co. photo NWS

Contributions may also be made to the local Salvation Army.

Source: http://salinapost.com/2016/05/26/cleanup-damage-assessment-continues-after-sw-kansas-tornado/

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More Severe Weather and Tornadoes Roil Plains; No Injuries

Violent EF4 tornado crossing road at close range - Abilene, Kansas, May 25, 2016

Severe weather spawning numerous tornadoes roiled large stretches of Kansas for a second day Thursday, prompting residents to anxiously watch the skies but causing only scattered damage in rural areas and no injuries or deaths.

A late afternoon tornado warning in the Kansas City area prompted a brief precautionary evacuation of Kansas City International Airport in Missouri, forcing travelers and other visitors into parking garage tunnels, local media reported. The airport was back in operation by early evening.

The area was on high alert a day after a half-mile-wide tornado stayed on the ground for about 90 minutes near Chapman, Kansas, Wednesday night and traveled 26 miles.

The National Weather Service began issuing tornado warnings early Thursday afternoon, with the first sighting of a tornado near the tiny northeast Kansas town of St. George in Riley County about 2 p.m.

An hour later, five tornadoes were reported in a cluster of counties in northeast Kansas, where law enforcement reported baseball-size hail that damaged cars and homes in Meriden northeast of Topeka.

At the same time, several southwestern Kansas counties were under tornado warnings, but no twisters had touched down.

Early Thursday evening, the weather service said a tornado knocked down tree limbs and damaged some outbuildings near the 4,400-resident northeastern Kansas town of Wamego, though the intensity of that twister would not be assessed until Friday.

In neighboring Missouri, an Air Force worker at the Whiteman base roughly 70 miles southeast of Kansas City reported a tornado had touched down.

The tornado on Wednesday night near 1,400-resident Chapman, 140 miles west of Kansas City, Kansas, damaged or destroyed about 20 homes but edged past Chapman"s southern side after forecasters declared a "tornado emergency" for the town. "Numerous" miles of power lines were extensively damaged, along with a set of railroad tracks, Kansas officials said Thursday.

A survey team from the National Weather Service office at Topeka rated the tornado as an EF4 on a scale of tornado strength EF5 is the highest with estimated peak winds of 180 mph.

In Kansas" Dickinson County, a tornado Wednesday was blamed for destroying eight homes and heavily damaging as many as 20 others and farmsteads.

"It"s amazing how this tornado missed those centers of population," said Paul Froelich, a Dickinson County fire district. "And we had outstanding early warning on this. ... People knew well in advance of this storm. Consider also, this is Kansas. This is Tornado Alley."

A typical tornado dissipates within 10 minutes after losing the proper balance of winds flowing into and out of the storm. Tornado researcher Erik Rasmussen of the University of Oklahoma said Thursday that conditions were right to keep the Chapman storm churning no storms were nearby to disrupt it.

A twister at Chapman June 11, 2008, tore a path of destruction six blocks wide. Officials said one woman died, 100 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, and 80 percent of the town was damaged.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/homes-damaged-small-town-spared-kansas-tornado-39387915

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