JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eight years to the day after a devastating tornado killed 161 people and injured more than 1,100 others in Joplin, another big twister ripped through Missouri — this time the capital of Jefferson City — but with a far different result: no deaths or serious injuries.

The two storms hit Missouri cities roughly the same size on the same day of the year, May 22. And they both ravaged residential neighborhoods and business districts. But several factors created completely different scenarios — factors that worked against Joplin and helped spare the lives of Jefferson City residents like Debra Gary, who along with her husband, mother and four kids hunkered down in the basement before emerging to find their home badly damage.

“I always tell my kids, ‘Keep God first,’ because God was there for us,” Gary said Friday. “He kept us and our home safe when the tornado was going on.”

The Jefferson City twister was a big one, an EF-3 with winds estimated at 160 mph. But the Joplin tornado was a rarely-seen monster, an EF-5 with winds in excess of 200 mph. It was on the ground for 22 miles and 38 terrifying minutes, tearing through one-third of the town.

Then there was the timing. The Joplin tornado hit on a Sunday afternoon, as people were out and about, including hundreds who had just left the high school’s graduation ceremony.

“You had many more people potentially in the path, in vulnerable locations,” said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

The Jefferson City twister arrived in the middle of the night, which was actually a good thing, said Brian Houston, a communications professor and director of the University of Missouri’s Disaster and Community Crisis Center.

“We think of nighttime tornadoes being pretty dangerous because people might be asleep and not aware of them, but one of the good things is people tend to be at home, in structures,” Houston said. “It’s always better to be inside somewhere when a tornado strikes, rather than being out.”

The ability to find safe refuge from the storm also favored Jefferson City. Joplin sits in an area of southwestern Missouri where the soil is rocky, so basements are uncommon. In 2011, only about one in five Joplin homes had basements, which forced people to take shelter in far less secure places like bathtubs and closets. Basements are far more common in Jefferson City, which was built on rolling hills along the Missouri River.

Those warnings are now more precise, too. Houston said storm warnings are now more localized, meaning people “are hopefully more likely to take it seriously because you’re not getting these warnings for a tornado that’s on the other side of the county that might be dozens of miles away.”

Radar is more advanced, too. Forecasters were warning as far back as last week that the Plains and Midwest faced a highly dangerous storm scenario. On Wednesday night, central Missouri TV stations tracked the approaching storm and sirens in Jefferson City first sounded at 11:10 p.m., which was at least 30 minutes before the first property damage was inflicted. Gov. Mike Parson credited the warning system for saving lives.

As Jefferson City residents began the long task of cleaning up, they faced additional challenges: Flooding and heat.

The Missouri River topped a levee on the north side of town, threatening the airport and a few homes and businesses, including a golf course and events center Danny Baumgartner owns.

“It’s part of Mother Nature — these things happen, and you make the best of it and help each other out,” Baumgartner said. “With the tornado and this going on, it’s a lot of activities for a small community. But we’ll all make it.”

Flooding also forced the closure of some roads around the state Capitol, though the building itself sits on a bluff overlooking the river, out of harm’s way. The tornado also spared the Capitol building.

Ameren Missouri crews worked in sweltering humidity with a temperature nearing 90 degrees, replacing about 200 broken power poles and re-stringing lines in Jefferson City and Eldon, another central Missouri community hit by a tornado.

Ameren Missouri division director Chip Webb said it may be late Saturday before power is fully restored in Jefferson City.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas online gamer whose dispute over a $1.50 bet sparked a hoax call that resulted in police shooting a man who lived at his old address has struck a deal with prosecutors that could allow the charges against him to be dropped.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren approved on Friday the joint motion for deferred prosecution that had been filed earlier in the day by prosecutors and the attorney for 20-year-old Shane Gaskill of Wichita.

Such agreements typically result in charges being dropped if a defendant fulfills all its conditions.

The judge deferred court proceedings and discovery during a period ending on Dec. 31, 2020 and ordered Gaskill to pay $1,000 in restitution, costs and penalties as required under the agreement.

The death of Andrew Finch, 28, in Wichita drew national attention to the practice of “swatting,” a form of retaliation in which someone reports a false emergency to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to descend on an address.

“I think the diversion agreement recognizes in part that Gaskill’s involvement in swatting was less than the others,” said Jim Cross, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and making false statements.

The other online player, Casey Viner, 19, of North College Hill, Ohio, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice under a deal in which both sides recommend two years of probation. He will be sentenced on June 26.

Authorities said Viner recruited Tyler R. Barriss to “swat” Gaskill in Wichita stemming from a dispute on the game Call of Duty: WWII. Barriss, a 26-year-old Los Angeles man with an online reputation for “swatting,” called police from Los Angeles on Dec. 28, 2017, to falsely report a shooting and kidnapping at that Wichita address. Finch, who was not involved in the video game or dispute, was shot by police when he opened the door.

Barriss was sentenced in April to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 51 counts for making fake emergency calls and threats around the country, including the deadly hoax call in Kansas.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The government has agreed to an alternative to prosecution of a Kansas online gamer whose dispute sparked a hoax call that resulted in police shooting a man who lived at his former Wichita home.

A joint motion filed Friday by federal prosecutors and the attorney for 20-year-old Shane Gaskill of Wichita asks the court to approve the agreement.

Gaskill is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and making false statement during an investigation.

Deferred prosecution agreements typically result in charges being dropped if a defendant fulfills all its conditions.

Under terms of Gaskill’s May 15 pretrial diversion agreement, the government agreed not to pursue prosecution for at least 18 months.

Gaskill agreed to waive any speedy trial defenses and pay $1,000 in restitution, costs and penalties.

By CORINNE BOYER

Passenger trains will keep rolling through rural communities in Kansas, for now. But Amtrak still hasn’t committed to operating the long-distance routes that connect small towns to larger cities long-term.

Earlier this year, Congress agreed to an additional $50 million to keep the Southwest Chief, which travels from Chicago to Los Angeles with stops in several small Kansas cities, running through September.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and a handful of his senate colleagues then pressed Amtrak for answers about future plans for long-distance routes. The rail service responded with a letter this week.

CEO Richard Anderson wrote that Amtrak will not alter or truncate any long-distance routes before the end of the 2019 fiscal year. But he didn’t make any promises beyond that.

Instead, the head of the federally funded rail service pushed questions back at Congress about whether to maintain current routes or make changes.

“While we strongly believe that there is a permanent place for high-quality long-distance trains in our network,” Anderson wrote, “the time to closely examine the size and nature of that role is upon us for numerous reasons.”

Amtrak is slated to submit its proposal for reauthorization later this year.

In his letter, Anderson highlighted the increased demand for services in metropolitan areas, where the majority of its ridership occurs on short-distance routes such as the Northeast Corridor.

The long-distance routes, he wrote, ate up nearly $922 million in the 2018 fiscal year — nearly half the $1.94 billion in federal support for Amtrak’s network, while accommodating a relatively small share of passenger trips, 4.5 million rides annually.

While ridership numbers have fluctuated from year to year, Anderson noted the number of long-distance passengers fell 4 % between fiscal years 2017 and 2018.

The rail service is eyeing the development of new routes to meet demand for shorter trips in areas of the country where the population is growing.

Anderson wrote that routes connecting cities and towns within 400 miles or less are the “sweet spot” for passenger rail. He identified a number of new potential corridors, including a route between Fort Worth, Texas — now a stop along the Heartland Flyer — and Newton, Kansas, which is currently a stop along the Southwest Chief.

Moran said he expects Congress to agree to continued funding for Amtrak to support current long distances routes, but that it would be a “battle.”

“I need to make sure that Amtrak, its board of directors, its management has a commitment to long-term passenger services in places in the country in which it’s not probably ever going to be profitable,” Moran said in an interview.

The senator got some of the assurances for the continued operation of the Southwest Chief he wanted from a meeting with Anderson Wednesday.

But Moran said through a spokesperson later that while the meeting was a, “step in the right direction,” it prompted further questions. The senator is keeping holds on nominees to Amtrak’s Board of Directors while he awaits more answers.

Corinne Boyer is a reporter for the Kansas News Service.  Follow her @Corinne_Boyer or email cboyer@hppr.org

JEFFERSON CITY  (AP) — The bodies of a man and a woman were discovered Friday in a submerged vehicle near the Mississippi River in Missouri, bringing the death toll to nine from storms that have ravaged the central U.S. this week and threaten major flooding through the holiday weekend.

John Reinhardt, 20, and Caitlin Frangel, 19, both of Hazelwood, Missouri, were reported missing May 15. Their bodies were found around 4 a.m. on a flooded rural road that runs along the river at Portage Des Sioux, about 40 miles north of St. Louis.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Dallas Thompson said an autopsy determined they both drowned.

“We believe they went into it in the dark, not knowing the roadway was flooded, and they were unable to get out,” Thompson said.

Heavy rain in recent weeks has spurred major flooding in several states. Flooding along the Arkansas River will threaten communities from Tulsa into western Arkansas through at least the holiday weekend, officials said Friday, as water released from an Oklahoma dam combines with additional rain in the forecast.

To control flooding in Tulsa, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday began increasing the amount of water being released into the river from the Keystone Dam northwest of the city of about 400,000.

“The dam is doing what it is supposed to do. It has maintained the flood to a manageable level,” U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, said following an aerial tour of the region.

The river in Tulsa was just above 22 feet (6.71 meters) Friday, four feet (1.22 meters) above flood stage, and was expected to remain at that level through Tuesday. Riverside residents were urged to leave their homes and at least one oil refinery suspended operations.

“The most disturbing thing that I’ve heard in the last 24 hours from our first responders are reports of parents letting their kids play in the river,” said Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum. “If you’re a parent that’s letting your kid play in this river right now, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

Meanwhile, Arkansas officials braced for record flooding as the water moves downstream.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson ordered the state’s National Guard to station high-water rescue teams in the western part of the state by Saturday and the Corps of Engineers warned residents to stay off the river throughout the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

“We hope people are getting to safer areas now,” said Aric Mitchell with the Fort Smith, Arkansas, police department.

The Arkansas River is expected to reach 41 feet (12.5 meters) by Sunday near Fort Smith, which is the state’s second-largest city with nearly 89,000 residents. That’s nearly 20 feet (6 meters) above flood stage and 3 feet (0.9 meters) above the record of 38.1 feet (11.61 meters) set in 1945.

“Nearby business, residences could be flooded … it’s going to be a mess,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Pete Snyder. “We’ve not seen it get this high before. It’s a different situation than we’ve ever seen.”

The concerns in Oklahoma and Arkansas follow days of severe storms that exacerbated spring flooding throughout the Midwest and spawned dozens of tornadoes.

More rain is likely through the weekend from western Texas through Illinois, according to weather service meteorologist Matt Mosier with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

On Friday, floodwaters from the Missouri River topped a levee at Jefferson City and shut down some streets around the state Capitol as residents worked to clean up from one of the twisters, which cut a 3-mile-long path through the city earlier this week.

Jefferson City’s airport already had been evacuated, but other residents and workers drove precariously through flooded roads to escape the rising waters. The Capitol building sits on a bluff on the south side of the river and is not in danger of flooding.

The tornado had also damaged the Missouri headquarters for the Special Olympics, prompting the organization Friday to cancel its summer games.

HASTINGS, Neb — Crews have contained a large fire at a Hastings, Nebraska fertilizer plant and are investigating the cause.

Just after 11:45 p.m. on Thursday, fire crews responded to a reported structure fire at CPI Elevator in the area of Showboat and 6 Hwy near Hastings, according to media release from police.

Crews arrived in less than five minutes to find the facility was fully engulfed in fire.

The blaze forced authorities to close U.S. Highway 6, but the road was reopened early Friday.

Due to building collapse and other structural hazards, the fire has not been able to be fully extinguished. This will cause smoke in the area possibly through the weekend.

Authorities urged residents to keep their windows closed and turn off air conditioners if they have health conditions that could be exasperated by smoke.

The smoke should be considered no more hazardous than smoke from an outside burn, however residents should be prepared to take certain precautions should wind cause smoke in your neighborhood.

Precautions would include washing any exposed surfaces with soap and water, and keeping doors and windows shut until the smoke subsides. Individuals with a predisposition to respiratory and breathing problems may find the smoke to be irritating, and should be prepared to wear a dust mask or relocate until the smoke subsides. If you think you are experiencing a medical emergency, do not hesitate to call 911 for assistance.

No injuries were reported and the extent of damages to the plant weren’t clear. Hastings is located approximately 150 miles north of Salina.

By JIM MCLEAN

Overflowing rivers and reservoirs across Kansas are already producing significant flooding, particularly in the southeast corner of the state.

But, forecasters say, things could get much worse over the next several days as slow-moving thunderstorms develop over central and northeast Kansas.

The storms, he said, could produce flooding in northeast Kansas similar to that generated by up to 20 inches of rain that fell over portions of southeast Kansas in recent days, sending the Neosho, Verdigris and Marmaton rivers over their banks.

That’s well above the region’s average rainfall for the entire month of May of about five inches.

“Many of these areas are seeing an entire month’s worth of rain in one night,” Omitt said.

Omitt joined Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and the heads of several state agencies Thursday to brief reporters on disaster relief efforts already underway and warn that more creeks, rivers and reservoirs could soon be spilling over their banks.

“We’ve got to be vigilant, we’ve got to make safety a priority,” Kelly said, noting that she has issued disaster declarations for 42 of the state’s 105 counties since the end of April.

Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, the commander of the Kansas National Guard and the state’s emergency management director, said Kansans should prepare for what he calls “a multi-hazard event” – meaning more heavy rain and the increased possibility of tornadoes and other types of severe weather.

Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli of the Kansas National Guard warns about possible flooding on the way in the state.

CREDIT JIM MCLEAN / KANSAS NEWS SERVICE

“It really creates a very dangerous situation,” Tafanelli said.

At a minimum, Tafanelli said, Kansans should factor the warnings into their plans for the Memorial Day weekend. That starts, he said, with checking to see whether rains have forced the closure of roads or state parks.

• Thes Kansas Department of Transportation website has latest information on road closures.
• The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism has the latest on flood alerts in state parks.

The recent death of a motorist who drove into water rushing over a roadway near Emporia should serve as a warning to all travelers, said Larry Thompson of the Kansas Department of Transportation.

“We’re urging drivers to pay attention when they’re out there,” Thompson said. “Don’t drive into flowing water, don’t drive around the barricades.”
Drivers who spot water overtopping a roadway, Thompson said, should call 911 to report it.

The Kansas Department of Children and Families is overseeing shelters for Kansans forced out of their homes by flooding, The Department of Health and Environment is preparing for possible weather-related health threats. In particular, heavy rain and flooding could sharply increase the number of disease-carrying insects.

“With water everywhere and warm temperatures, we will see ticks and mosquitos flourish,” said KDHE Secretary Lee Norman.

“So, once the water starts receding, it will be really important for people to drain out any standing water,” he said.

The forecast for continued heavy rain and severe weather runs through early next week, Omitt said.

“Probably through about Tuesday before the pattern breaks down,” he said, “we get this stuff to start moving and get we get some drier weather.”

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks or email jim (at) kcur (dot) org.

JEFFERSON CITY(AP) — The Latest on tornadoes and flooding in the Midwest (all times local):

Floodwaters from the Missouri River have topped a levee at Jefferson City and shut down some streets around the state Capitol as residents continue cleaning up from a powerful tornado.

The flooding Friday had been forecast following heavy rain throughout the Midwest earlier in the week. Yet it still caught some people by surprise, as it came on a hot sunny day. The city’s airport had already been evacuated, but other residents and workers drove precariously through flooded roads in north Jefferson City to escape the rising waters.

The Capitol building sits on a bluff on the south side of the river and is not in danger of flooding.

The tornado that struck just before midnight Wednesday also spared the Capitol but tore a three-mile path through the city.

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