Thunderstorms moving across Kansas on Friday brought large hail, at least one tornado and lightning that sparked a fire at a vacant apartment building in Topeka.
A firefighter sustained first- and second-degree burns on his hands and shoulder when the building's roof collapsed, Battalion Chief Mike Clifton said. The firefighter was treated at a hospital and released.
The building was empty because it had just been renovated, fire officials said.
In Barton County in central Kansas, sheriff's dispatcher Paula Lloyd said a combination of a tornado and straight-line winds damaged trees and signs west of Great Bend late Friday afternoon. The National Weather Service said straight-line winds hit Great Bend itself, tearing the roof off a motel and a fourplex and damaging the roof of a nursing home. The storm also left parts of the city without power late Friday afternoon.
Counties across the state reported hail up to golf-ball size.
As the storms moved east, packing winds that gusted above 70 mph, law enforcement agencies reported several downed trees in Marion County and in Osage City in east-central Kansas. Other locations across the state, including Douglas County, reported broken limbs, some up to a foot in diameter, and power outages.
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.