Kansas tornado inflicts heavy damage

Severe thunderstorm warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) for states in the Midwest, including Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska. The mayor of Wichita claimed 50 to 100 structures had been destroyed, mostly in the suburb of Andover. However, no significant injuries have been reported thus far.

Despite the scale of the destruction to houses and automobiles, local officials maintained there had been no deaths during a news briefing on Saturday morning. “The good news is that we haven’t uncovered any more injuries than we discussed last night,” Fire Chief Chad Russell told local media. “We have no reports of fatalities…we have no pending rescues, so we don’t know of anyone stuck in a building right now that is waiting for us to rescue them.”

“Right now, everything is going as good as it can be given the circumstances,” police chief Buck Buchanan stated. Both men stated that evaluations of the situation were ongoing and that planes and drones were being used to inspect the damage. Both asked anyone who wished to help to avoid the area due to downed power wires.

Extraordinary images and photographs shared online show the tornado sweeping through Andover, smashing buildings, and scattering debris.
More than 22,000 people were without power immediately following the tornado, according to the Energy outage map.

According to the National Weather Service, Kansas sits in the center of the so-called “tornado alley” and is one of the most active tornado-producing regions in the world. Tornadoes have traditionally been most common from mid-to-late April to mid-June, according to NSW data.

Andover recently marked the 31st anniversary of a catastrophic twister that killed 17 people and wounded 225 in 1991. The EF5 tornado – the most powerful classification – lasted 69 miles (111 kilometers) and was one of 55 tornadoes that erupted from Texas to Minnesota.