WOODWARD, Okla. (AP) – The National Weather Service’s unusual step of warning people more than 24 hours in advance of a possible “high-end, life-threatening event” is credited with saving lives as tornadoes raked the Midwest and Plains. Six people were killed in Woodward where the town’s 20 outdoor tornado sirens were knocked out by lightning.
A state emergency official confirmed Monday that a sixth person has died after a tornado ripped through the Northwest Oklahoma town.
The weather service says Kansas likely had more than a month’s worth of tornadoes in this weekend’s outbreak. Preliminary reports show that an EF-3 tornado struck the southeast side of Wichita this weekend.
Meteorologist Mike Hudson said Sunday that crews are assessing the hardest hit areas from the storms that hit Saturday and Sunday. They’re trying to determine how many tornadoes were involved. Kansas reported widespread damage in Sedgwick and Rice counties, but no fatalities. Hudson says there were 122 preliminary tornado reports in the region, with most occurring in Kansas, but some of those are likely multiple reports of the same tornado. He says statistics show Kansas averages 12 tornadoes in April.
Hudson says based on the early reports that it’s likely there will have been more than 12 tornadoes in Kansas in this outbreak.
Governor Sam Brownback issued a declaration of disaster emergency early Sunday, said the state was fortunate to have escaped fatalities.
No fatalities were reported in the storms in Kansas, but extensive damage was reported in Sedgwick and Rice counties.
Utility companies have been working to restore power to thousands of customers after heavy storms and tornadoes hit Kansas over the weekend.
Westar Energy said Sunday that power is expected to be fully restored by late Tuesday. The utility company said heavy sightseeing traffic in hard-hit areas of Wichita has slowed down repairs. The storms and tornadoes hit the Wichita area late Saturday.
Westar said up to 26,500 customers lost power Saturday night, but by early Sunday that number had been reduced to about 7,300 customers in Sedgwick County and 140 in Butler County. The storms knocked down more than 110 power poles and broke nearly 200 power lines and also damaged substations.
Boeing says the storms that started late Saturday damaged at least three of the company’s buildings in Wichita. Boeing spokeswoman Yvonne Johnson-Jones said Sunday that the company is still assessing the damage and isn’t commenting yet on whether any of its aircraft were damaged.
Spirit AeroSystems spokeswoman Debbie Gann said some of that company’s building sustained significant damage.
The Wichita Eagle reports that one of Hawker Beechcraft’s buildings lost part of a roof and repairs were underway Sunday. The storms also struck in Nebraska, Iowa and northwest Oklahoma, where five people died.
Refueling tankers have returned to an Air Force Base in Grand Forks, North Dakota – but only to wait out a storm.
Base officials say 16 aircraft from the 22nd Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas were moved to Grand Forks Saturday. The Grand Forks base was home to refueling tankers for 50 years until the 2005 federal base closing and realignment commission changed its mission to unmanned aircraft.
There was other increased air traffic at the Grand Forks base over the weekend. Eight aircraft carrying 37 personnel from the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Neb., also took refuge from the storm in Grand Forks.