As residents and authorities of several north-central Kansas towns begin to sort through the considerable damage wrought by tornadoes Wednesday night, National Weather Service damage survey teams are converging on the stricken areas.
Chance Hayes, warning coordination meteorologist for the Wichita branch of the National Weather Service, has already left for Salina, where several buildings were damaged or destroyed. There are conflicting reports about whether the damage was caused by a tornado or straight-line winds.
No such confusion exists about the damage at Chapman, Manhattan or near Soldier. Meteorologists from the NWS Topeka office will be studying the damage in Manhattan, Chapman and surrounding areas.
The Storm Prediction Center cataloged 52 reports of tornadoes Thursday night in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa – 21 of them in Kansas.
Hail the size of softballs killed several cattle near Ellsworth, meteorologist Leon Wasinger said.
Stones of that size could kill animals (even people) outright.
What happens most often in such cases, Wasinger said, is that the cattle are so badly battered by the hail stones that their owners decide to put them down. The livestock toll can be high in such circumstances, because cattle left outdoors tend to clump together against stormy weather to protect themselves and each other.