Storms, tornadoes cause damage as they roll into Plains states
Tornadoes, hail and high wind wrecked homes and business in Kansas early Wednesday, part of a line of thunderstorms rolling across the Plains that caused damage from Texas to Nebraska.
Another storm system late Tuesday damaged TWA airliners on the ground at St. Louis, putting 22 of the aircraft temporarily out of service.
One tornado hit Plainville, Kan., causing major damage to 25 homes and lesser damage to 54 others, said Joy Moser, a spokeswoman for the state adjutant general's office. Fourteen businesses also were damaged but no injuries were reported at the town in north-central Kansas.
Farther south, a twister damaged several homes at the Texas Panhandle town of Spearman, emergency workers said. No injuries were reported.
"We've got quite a bit of damage. It got the (grain) elevator just south of town and overturned two tractor-trailer rigs," said Danny Hendricks, a Hansford County sheriff's dispatcher.
More tractor-trailer rigs were overturned in Texas' San Angelo and Shamrock area, and hail more than an inch in diameter accompanied the line of thunderstorms as it moved across the state. Wind gusting to 60 mph downed power lines and trees in north-central Texas, the National Weather Service said.
And in the Oklahoma Panhandle, two possible small tornadoes struck near Elmwood, heavily damaging five houses and leaving residents of the area without power for about five hours, said Beaver County Sheriff Bill Cassingham. No injuries were reported.
On Tuesday, storms sweeping across Missouri produced hail the size of baseballs and tennis balls, high wind and heavy rain that caused some flash flooding in the Warrensburg area.
"We've had tin roofs peeled off like a can opener, we've got trees on houses and tons of telephone poles are down," said Warrensburg Fire Chief Tony Correia.
Funnel clouds also were sighted in southern Nebraska and high wind knocked down trees and power lines.
Hail damage put 22 TWA planes out of service at Lambert Field in St. Louis and the airline had to cancel at least 34 flights, airline officials said Wednesday morning.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a big garage to park them in and they sit out at night," said airline spokesman Mark Abels.
Cars parked at the airport had broken windshields and dents.
A Tuesday afternoon tornado at the southwest Kansas town of Rolla destroyed a farmstead, blew cars into trees, bent half-inch metal fencing and knocked over about 20 utility poles. Barns were destroyed in nearby Cloud and Smith counties.