Tornadoes, Rain, Hail Hit Kansas Towns

Tornadoes, heavy rain and large hailstones ripped through south-central Kansas on Sunday, destroying businesses in Douglass and damaging nearly 70 recreational vehicles at a state park.

Large sections of the eastern third of the nation experienced wet weather.

A tornado destroyed a convenience store, a pizza parlor, a beauty shop and two homes in Douglass, but no serious injuries were reported, the Butler County sheriff’s office said.

‘Roof Just Left’

“The electricity went off, my ears started popping, and I could see insulation flying around,� said Cheryl Moore, who was working in the convenience store. “I hit the floor where I was at, and the roof just left. It just took off.�

Butler County Sheriff Dave Williams said 14 minor injuries were reported at Bluestem Lake in El Dorado State Park. “When the rain came, you couldn’t see a thing, just a solid wall of water,� said Dave Piper of Wichita.

Thunderstorms produced 80- to 100-m.p.h. gusts near McConnell Air Force Base at Wichita, downing trees and power lines.

Telephone Poles Snap

“When the wind got up so strong as I was driving . . . telephone poles were snapping in front of me, lines were going down. Also, there were several manhole covers blown up out of where they usually sit,� said Wichita police Officer Steve Yarberry.

Nearly 25,000 customers lost power in the Wichita area, said Steve Menasco, a spokesman for Kansas Gas & Electric Co.

The storms were blamed for a fire at a pumping shack owned by Northwest Central Pipeline Co. in south Wichita. After the shack caught fire, a 12-inch natural gas line that runs into the small building burst into flames.

Firefighters closed off a street leading to the building and watched as it burned, unable to approach for fear of an explosion, Battalion Fire Chief Dale Kuhn said.

Topeka Drenched

Other thunderstorms rolled across northeast and east-central Kansas, spawning 80-m.p.h. winds in the Pomona Lake area and drenching Topeka with heavy rains.

In Topeka, limbs were blown off trees and some structural damage was reported near downtown.

The National Weather Service said 70-m.p.h. winds blew off the roofs of several homes from Richmond to Ottawa.

Earlier in the day, strong winds uprooted trees and downed power lines in the Great Bend area. Radio station KVGB was knocked off the air when it lost power at its transmitter site.

Wind Damage in Missouri

The storms also moved into Missouri, causing scattered wind damage, the weather service reported.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms extended from the upper Mississippi Valley through the lower Ohio Valley and Tennessee Valley to the mid-Atlantic Coast.

Thunderstorms were scattered across the eastern Gulf Coast and Florida, where Tallahassee Municipal Airport got 1.70 inches of rain in an hour.