Tornadoes and fierce hail storms tore across parts of Kansas and Nebraska Wednesday, destroying dozens of homes and endangering the lives of millions.
At least nine tornadoes were reported in Kansas, the strongest of them in the sparsely populated north-central part of the state. That included a large tornado near the tiny town of Republic just south of the Nebraska state line, where some homes were damaged. In Harvey County, a tornado destroyed a hog barn and damaged trees, according to the National Weather Service.
CBS News reports that Meteorologist Mike Bettes of The Weather Channel reports that a system larger than Wednesday’s was forecast to cause a multi-day outbreak of storms in parts of Tornado Alley starting Saturday.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Jonathan Kurtz” author_title=”National Weather Service meteorologist “]
People just really need to stay weather aware, have a plan and understand that severe storms are possible across portions of the southern Plains almost daily through Saturday.
[/quote]
A wildlife park housing leopards, lions, alligators, tigers and other exotic animals was hit by the storm, prompting fears that tigers had been loosed upon the city.
The storms dumped up to 6 inches of rain in the southern part of Oklahoma City, according to NY Daily News, prompting the city to issue a flash flood emergency for the first time in its history, said city spokeswoman Kristy Yager.
Road crews were waiting for the storms to abate to set up barricades and evaluate trouble spots. “They’ll dispatch as soon as the storms end and the weather clears,” Yager said.
The animals were all accounted for late Wednesday, but not before the term “tigernado” began trending on social media.
In other weather relate news here at Immortal News, a study suggests that submicron particles influence cloud formations.
