Family spared, but home destroyed
Eileen Swanson walks through the remains of her son’s home north of Abilene, Kan., on Thursday. Mark and Julie Swanson and their 11- year- old son took shelter in a basement bathroom Wednesday night as a tornado destroyed the rural home. Tornadoes struck again Thursday in parts of Kansas, but with only scattered damage. The Wednesday tornado damaged or destroyed about 20 homes and damaged “miles” of power lines, officials said.
CHAPMAN, Kan. — 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 precautionary evacuation of Kansas City International Airport in Missouri, media outlets reported. The airport was back in operation by early evening.
The area was on high alert a day after a half- mile- wide EF4 tornado stayed on the ground for about 90 minutes near Chapman, Kan., Wednesday night and traveled 26 miles, with peak winds of 180 mph. It damaged or destroyed about 20 homes and damaged “miles” of power lines.
The National Weather Service began issuing tornado warnings 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 officials reported baseball- size hail that damaged cars and homes in Meriden northeast of Topeka.
The weather service said a tornado knocked down tree limbs and damaged some outbuildings early Thursday evening near the 4,400- resident northeastern Kansas town of Wamego, though the intensity of that twister would not be assessed until today.