LAWRENCE, Kansas – A two-week barrage of tornadoes that has ravaged much of the Midwest descended on this university town Tuesday, blasting homes and businesses and injuring at least a dozen people.
The latest wave of severe weather wreaked havoc as far east as Pennsylvania, where Caernarvon Township Police Chief John Scalia said no injuries were reported but confirmed that "we have devastation."
Tuesday marked the 12th straight day that at least eight tornadoes were reported to the National Weather Service, resulting in at least 10 deaths.
Downed power lines, trees and debris blocked off roads in and around Lawrence, the home to the University of Kansas about 40 miles west of Kansas City. Vic and Colleen Strnad had spent awful minutes hunkered down beneath their basement stairs, hands over their heads, as the twister slammed through their Shank Hill neighborhood late Tuesday.
Colleen Strnad, 68, recalled hearing the winds pick up above them and the sounds of shattering glass. The power was still out Wednesday and their home of 40 years will need some repairs, but the couple were thankful it was still standing.
Power lines hung low over their street, and utility trucks were rolling into the neighborhood. A neighbor lost the second floor of the family's home. A trampoline was overturned in a nearby tangle of trees.
Vic Strnad, 71, pointed to a mangled 6-foot-tall decorative windmill sitting in a neighbor’s ditch. Before the storm, the windmill sat in Strnad’s yard.
“You want me to come get my windmill?” Vic Strnad asked the neighbor with a laugh.
“Nah I think it’ll be OK,” he responded, waving him off with a chuckle before returning his attention to his own mangled home.
The storm spared the immediate Kansas City metro area, but travelers at Kansas City International Airport took shelter in parking garage tunnels as a precaution. Air traffic controllers delayed all flights until just after midnight local time.
"We apologize for the inconvenience," the airport said in a tweet at 12:20 a.m. "A tornado destroyed homes and businesses miles away & debris rained down onto the airport. Our crews had to clean it up in order to be safe."
As the system moved into Missouri, the weather service urged residents of areas such as Excelsior Estates and Mosby to take shelter from confirmed tornadoes. Damage reports were not immediately available, but about 13,000 customers lost power throughout the state. The White House issued a state of emergency in 18 Kansas counties Tuesday evening.
The tornado sightings are part of a massive severe weather system mostly positioned in the central United States. Preliminary reports show 27 tornadoes struck mainly Kansas and Missouri on Tuesday, the Storm Prediction Center said. But the East has not been entirely spared.
On Monday, tornadoes reached into Ohio, killing one person, injuring several more and causing severe damage to neighborhoods. On Tuesday, tornado warnings reached as far east as Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and New Jersey.
In North Jersey, fierce storms pounded the region with torrential rains, some hail and winds that damaged Lenape Valley Regional High School in Stanhope.
The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado hit eastern Pennsylvania, and a team was sent to Morgantown in Berks County to survey the damage and determine its strength. County emergency officials reported structural damage to about 20 properties.
"We are very, very lucky and blessed," Chief Scalia said. "When you drive around and see the destruction, you realize how lucky we are that nobody was hurt."
Bacon reported from McLean, Va.; Lam from Los Angeles. Jasmine Vaughn-Hall, York Daily Record; William Westhoven, Morristown Daily Record; Contributing: The Associated Press
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/29/kansas-tornado-latest-round-twisters-devastates-communities/1268223001/
2019-05-29 11:59:00Z
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