The story appears on

Page A11

May 23, 2011

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeWorld

Tornado season hits Kansas, killing 1

A TORNADO swept through US small eastern Kansas town, killing one person and destroying at least 20 homes, as severe thunderstorms pelted the region with hail that some residents said was the size of baseballs, authorities said yesterday.

A man was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to Newman Regional Hospital in Emporia, about 30 kilometers from where the tornado hit on Saturday night in Reading, hospital supervisor Deb Gould said. She said two other people were brought in with injuries but she had no further details.

Five people were injured in all, along with the person killed, said Sharon Watson, the spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management.

About 200 homes were damaged in and around the town of about 250 people, Watson said. The local post office and volunteer fire department were damaged, and all roads in and out of the town have been closed off. Reading is about 80 kilometers south of Topeka.

Power had been restored in the town by early yesterday, and a shelter was set up at a local school. The tornado was reported about 9:15pm on Saturday, Watson said.

While many states have been struck by severe storms this spring, Kansas has been having one of its lightest tornado seasons in decades, according to the National Weather Service. Until Saturday, no tornadoes had been reported in May, a month that averages nearly 30 tornadoes.

Last May, 127 tornadoes tore through the state. The tornado season picked up late on Saturday, however. Powerful storms rolled across the northeast part of the state.

 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend