Tornadoes tore through Kansas on Sunday night, prompting two tornado emergencies in the central part of the state: one for Plevna and one for Greensburg.
In Plevna, roughly 60 miles from Wichita, Reno County Sheriff Darrian Campbell said a passing tornado Sunday night caused significant damage to homes.
It was a close call for Greensburg, but the city made it through the night relatively unscathed, CNN affiliate KWCH reported. That wasn’t the case elsewhere in the state.
A “large and extremely dangerous tornado” roared through Grinnell in northwestern Kansas on Sunday evening, according to the NWS.
Photos from the town show debris scattered everywhere, with severely damaged homes, blocked roads and overturned vehicles. One image shows a local church with its roof blown off.
About 20 homes were destroyed in Grinnell, which is home to fewer than 300 people, according to Gove County Sheriff Shawn Mesch.
“Essentially the entire west of Grinnell was destroyed,” Mesch told CNN Monday. But despite the level of destruction, there have been no reports of injuries: “It’s insane that nobody was hurt,” he said.
Midwest Energy reported the tornado caused damage to both electric and gas systems in the Grinnell area, according KWCH.
Until Sunday night, Kansas had largely avoided tornadoes this spring, which is unusual for the state. May is the peak of tornado season for the US, with much of that activity typically centered in the Plains.
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Five consecutive days of damaging storms
Ferocious storms have carved through hundreds of miles of the US in recent days, generating more than 1,500 reports of damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes since Wednesday.
About 100 of those reports were tornadoes. National Weather Service storm survey teams are still picking through extensive damage to determine exactly how many tornadoes tore through the central and eastern US since last week, but they’ve already found at least three EF3 tornadoes and one EF4.
The EF4 tornado tore through Williamson County in southern Illinois on Friday, injuring at least seven people as it damaged homes and obliterated trees.
An EF3 tornado rocked the St. Louis area Friday, according to the NWS, reaching its peak intensity as it stretched a mile wide over the north side of the city. The tornado killed at least five people and injured dozens, while also “damaging or destroying thousands of buildings.”
Storms also left vast destruction behind in Laurel County, Kentucky, with 17 deaths reported there over the weekend. The city of London, about 75 miles south of Lexington, was hit particularly hard.
Police in Corbin, south of London, were responding to mutual aid calls for tornado victims and described the devastation as overwhelming.
“Stop and pray for Laurel County residents and victims of the tornado that touched down there,” the department wrote.
Reported by CNN
