The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado hit southeast of St. George, Kansas, around 2:05 p.m. local time (3:05 p.m. EST) moving Northeast at 30 miles per hour.
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A portion of North Texas has been placed in a Tornado Watch until 10 p.m.
Much of southern Nebraska, including Lincoln and the Interstate 80 corridor west to Lexington, has an enhanced risk of severe weather on Thursday, with very large hail the primary threat but tornadoes a possibility. In Arkansas, a 13-year-old boy was found safe three hours after falling into a flooded drainage pipe. Additional storms are predicted to move across Kansas starting during the afternoon/evening hours of Thursday, May 27 into Saturday, May 29.
Emergency management officials in Ford County reported that two people were critically injured by tornadoes, the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department said in a statement early Wednesday.
About 15 minutes later, McBride sent another post that said the “all clear” had been given at the airport and people were being brought back into the terminal. McBride did not report any damage to the airport or surrounding area.
Several Kansas counties sustained damages from a severe storm system that struck the state the evening of May 25.
Roughly 104 homes were in the path of the tornado.
Gov. Sam Brownback visited the area Thursday and took an aerial view at the impact of the tornado that spanned roughly a quarter of a mile.
Multiple videos show a tornado that was reportedly a half-mile wide touching down late on Wednesday night, ravaging parts of Kansas. That was one of 12 twisters that occurred, he said.
“Those things are incredibly violent”, said Ari Sarsalari, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.
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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 miles per hour. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported, according to the release.
