Manhattan and Kansas State University received significant damage late Wednesday night after a tornado tore through town, tossing cars and seriously damaging several businesses, the National Weather Service reported.

Ken Harding, a meteorologist with the Weather Service, said early Thursday that tornado warnings were still being issued for northeast Kansas, including the town of Soldier in Jackson County, where there appeared to be significant damage to homes though no reports of injuries.

“We have reports that the northern part of Kansas State University took a pretty good hit,” Harding said. “Cars were tossed and there is a lot of damage up there.”

He said there had been reports that a Toyota dealership, hardware store and muffler shop in Manhattan were destroyed by the tornado, with several cars from the dealership tossed around.

“There appears to be pretty significant damage,” Harding said.

He said search-and-rescue efforts were ongoing in several small towns in the path of the storm.

A line of tornadoes that took a diagonal path across the state also took a direct hit on the town of Chapman in Dickinson County.

Emergency officials reported that at least one person was injured in Chapman, where part of the roof of the high school gymnasium was torn off. The Weather Service said several homes received significant damage, and travel around town was hampered by downed trees and power lines.

There was no word on other injuries or the extent of damage, though officials say the downtown area was hit hard.

Farther west, the Weather Service said several livestock were killed near Ellsworth by baseball- to softball-sized hail.