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A tornado touched down in south-central Kansas on Friday night, leaving damage in its wake, but few injuries. TNS reports residents in the Wichita area, Andover and Sedgwick and Butler counties were picking up the pieces Saturday morning.
Closer to home, the National Weather Service issued a dust storm warning for the Golden Belt Friday night. Winds picked up around 7 p.m., shutting down the outdoor activities in downtown Great Bend. The NWS later warned motorists to be ready for a sudden drop to zero visibility.
At 8 p.m., the NWS reported widespread 60 to 80 mph winds and locally higher were occurring behind a cold front in central Kansas.
On Saturday, the Great Bend Tribune received scattered reports of wind damage in Barton and Rush counties from Friday night. Mike Maneth said part of the roof came off of the Catholic Church at Timken.
A Midwest Energy customer west of Great Bend reported losing electricity for about an hour and a Hoisington resident reported losing electricity for about two hours. Hoisington generates its own electrical power.
According to Midwest Energy, long lines of storms rolled through western and central Kansas Friday evening, causing power outages throughout its service area. The utility company reported roughly 1,600 customers were out of service at 10:30 p.m. Friday, mainly in the Victoria area and east of Hoisington. Crews were out working on power restoration.
More on the Andover tornado
First responders were working on a secondary search of the area northeast of Andover on Saturday morning, Andover fire chief Chad Russell said during a news briefing as reported by TNS.
It was their biggest concern Saturday morning, he said.
Crews have already finished a secondary search of homes in Andover. There are homes knocked completely off their foundations and entire neighborhoods wiped out, but no serious injuries, he said.
“It’s a miracle,” Russell said from the Dillons parking lot in Andover, which had dozens of emergency vehicles from surrounding counties. “I’m just praying it holds out. We still have searching to do.”
Homes in a housing development just southeast of Highway 54 and Andover Road were leveled. The garage and other rubble of one destroyed home held a car suspended in the air. Part of the roof at the nearby YMCA collapsed, and multiple vehicles were thrown against the building.
“It got stronger as it went north,” he said, adding there was “really severe damage” across from the YMCA and then there was “severe damage up by 13th street and Prairie Creek and that area.”
He said they were “still really concerned” about other areas in the fire district, outside of Andover, including around 70th and 80th and Meadowlark. He said crews were doing a secondary search this morning and had a drone up in the area.
There were 966 structures in the path of the tornado, but it’s unclear how many were destroyed. First responders are still working to determine that.
“We have entire neighborhoods that are destroyed so I think 50 (homes destroyed) is probably low,” he said.
Four injuries have been reported in the Andover area. All are adults with minor injuries. One person was injured by debris, two emergency responders and one person during an evacuation.
Russell said he heard four people were injured by the tornado in Wichita. Two, he said, had serious injuries and two were minor.