Homes were damaged and at least two people in western Kansas were injured amid severe storms that swept across the Plains, a county official said Tuesday night.
In Ford County, one of several in which tornadoes were reported, public information officer J.D. Gilbert told TV station KWCH crews were searching homes to make sure everyone was accounted for. He told the Wichita Eagle two injuries had been confirmed.
No fatalities were immediately reported.
Gilbert, who couldn’t immediately be reached by The Associated Press, told the TV station residential structures were damaged and the county’s landfill building was destroyed. Power lines were down across the county.
Meteorologist Jesse Lee of the National Weather Service in Dodge City said crews will survey the damage at locations in Ford, Edwards and Ness counties Wednesday.
A statement from the Kansas Adjutant General’s Office said in a statement that no major damage had been reported by any emergency managers, although multiple counties were still conducting assessments.
Highway 50 was briefly shut down between Dodge City and Cimarron due to damage, the statement said.
Earlier, authorities said several structures were damaged after what the weather service said was a “probable” tornado touched down in northeast Oklahoma, near Bristow. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said no one was injured.
Tornado warnings were also issued in parts of eastern Colorado and the Texas Panhandle.
Storms are in the forecast all week in the Great Plains, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said.
Associated Press
