On Friday, severe weather erupted in Kansas as a destructive tornado ripped through a tiny community, slinging debris in all directions. Nearly 1,000 structures were damaged or destroyed, according to officials.
Violent Tornado
On Friday evening, a violent tornado slammed Andover, Kansas, leaving a trail of wreckage and knocking out electricity for hundreds, although just a few casualties were recorded. Extreme Meteorologist Reed Timmer recorded dramatic footage of the twister from numerous viewpoints.
The tornado can be seen whirling and collecting intensity in one video filmed from the ground. It lofted debris into the air, smashing across the little suburb about 15 miles east of Wichita. According to Timmer, the tornado grew so quickly that it traveled "from 10 [mph] to 300 [mph] in seconds."
From kilometers away, the tornado could be seen. Ali Davis, an AccuWeather Lead Storm Warning Meteorologist in Wichita, captured the twister from her front porch.
Officials claimed at a news briefing on Saturday morning that the acute epidemic in Andover had resulted in zero deaths and four injuries, all of which were deemed mild. One person was harmed while escaping, another was hit by debris, and two more were hurt while reacting to the site.
"We're still apprehensive about those places in the fire district that we haven't...searched yet," Andover County Fire Chief Chad Russell said at a news conference on Saturday morning. "That's our first focus, and that's where the teams are right now."
Storm
Because of the tornado's extensive route, Russell said the hunt for casualties began in Sedgwick County and continued into Butler County, following the storm's full path.
Roads leading into the city were closed before midnight CDT, according to the Andover Police Department, while emergency services worked to clear debris, evaluate the damage, and reconnect power lines. Many of the roads were free by Saturday morning. Highway 54 remained blocked, according to Russell, since power lines were still down on the route.
Leaving Destruction on its Path
Russell also revealed that 966 structures were in the tornado's path. However, the precise number of those that were damaged is yet unknown. The Dr. Jim Farha YMCA facility in Andover was one of the structures that incurred considerable damage. Some structures were completely torn from their foundations.
Another news conference was set for Saturday at noon central time, with more details on the scope of the devastation and recovery activities expected.
Andover was devastated by a tornado that was part of a bigger storm of severe weather that passed over the country's heartland late Friday.
"An area of low pressure that formed in central Kansas earlier on Friday fueled the storms from the afternoon through the evening from Kansas and Nebraska to Oklahoma and Missouri," noted AccuWeather Meteorologist Joseph Bauer.
According to various Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri accounts, heavy thunderstorms damaged countless houses and businesses late Friday.
The storms brought hail the size of grapefruits and devastating winds and tornadoes. As motorists waited motionless in their cars, listening to hail pummel the outside in Norfolk, Nebraska, footage showed hail covering the roads. Early Saturday morning, there were 14 tornado reports, about 130 wind reports, and over 85 hail reports.
Around 7 p.m. central time, a flurry of storm reports, including four preliminary tornado reports, were reported to the local National Weather Service (NWS) office.
Power Outage
It was a little after 11 p.m. According to poweroutage.us, over 23,000 people in Kansas were without power at 5 p.m. CDT Friday. According to a local news organization, Butler County accounted for nearly 11,000 of the 23,000 complaints. Thankfully, by 6 a.m. As technicians worked carefully to restore electricity, outages across the state progressively decreased to around 3,000 by CDT on Saturday.
On Friday afternoon near Wichita, Kansas, AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologist Timothy Richards took film of the tornado from afar, just west of where it had touched down.
Assessing the Situation
The NWS Wichita office is conducting damage surveys on Saturday morning to assess the storm damage and establish the severity of the tornadoes that slammed the region.
"Normally, these drylines from farther west in Kansas and Oklahoma in the spring," Bauer explained, "but on Friday, the dryline formed right on Wichita's doorstep, resulting in very intense storms in the evening."
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