The National Weather Service warned people to take cover as what it called a “catastrophic” tornado approached.
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The Kansas Division of Emergency Management has deployed a regional coordinator to Dickinson County as a liaison between the county and State Emergency Operations Center in Topeka. A home sustained considerable damage, she said.
No major injuries or fatalities have been reported in the tornado late Wednesday.
The tornado formed just after 7 p.m. near the Ottawa County community of Niles and stayed on the ground continuously for about an hour and a half, National Weather Service meteorologist Chad Omitt said.
The tornado hit in a sparsely populated, rural area and missed Chapman, a small town of about 1,400 residents on the eastern edge of the tornado’s path, he said.
Multiple homes were damaged and railroad tracks were destroyed Wednesday night when a large tornado swept across central Kansas, authorities said, but no injuries were immediately reported.
A wedge tornado about a half-mile wide was confirmed in northeast Saline County and was tracking east at about 20 miles per hour.
The National Weather Service says large hail will be the main threat from Thursday’s storms but damaging winds and a few tornadoes could also be possible.
The Storm Prediction Center said more bad weather was expected later Thursday, and the Norman, Oklahoma-based office said much of Kansas faced a “moderate risk” of severe weather, including storms with winds exceeding 136 miles per hour.
“It lifted southeast of Chapman, Kansas, around 8:30 p.m. CDT”, McGinnis said.
Emergency crews were still assessing damage in Dickinson County and making sure everyone was OK early Thursday.
Crews are evaluating damage after a series of tornadoes that destroyed at least two western Kansas homes and left two people with critical injuries.
The twister was on the ground for more than an hour Wednesday night. Officials said one woman died, 100 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, and 80 percent of the town was damaged.
One person drowned in central Oklahoma when their auto was swept off the road.
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The highway patrol says the vehicle was swept into a drainage culvert, and one person was pinned in the floodwaters and drowned.
