MANKATO ? The Kansas Highway Patrol flew over three north-central counties Friday to better assess damage from a tornado and powerful winds that struck the night before.

Emergency managers from the damaged counties – Jewell, Republic and Smith – also participated. Their plane flew out of Mankato late morning.

Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas adjutant general’s office, said state officials will use the findings from flyovers to see how much help the counties will need.

“We are working to get the best information we can from each of the counties to determine which counties were hardest hit and what kind of resources they might need from the state,” Watson said.

No serious injuries were reported in the storms Thursday night.

Jewell County spokeswoman Carla Waugh said the storm hit there about 8 p.m., damaging several homes and businesses along Missouri 14. She said several homes in rural areas also were either destroyed or damaged.

The town of Jewell, which has about 500 residents and is 10 miles south of county seat Mankato, was the community hardest hit, Waugh said. A trucking company and a cafe were destroyed. A water tower also was toppled, cutting the community’s water supply.

Waugh said late Friday afternoon that the water had been restored.

Power outages were reported throughout Jewell County. It has been restored in the northern part of the county, but much of the hard-hit southern portion remained without power Friday afternoon.

The county dispatch center in Mankato was without power for about three hours Thursday, but officials restored it using a backup generator, Waugh said. The dispatch center handles the county’s emergency calls.

The American Red Cross has set up a shelter at a community center in Jewell.

Republic County officials say several homes were heavily damaged there, too. Emergency management coordinator Raymond Raney said some residents had to be rescued late Thursday night after being stranded in their damaged homes.

Watson said scattered power outages and flooding were reported in Smith and Phillips counties. The Smith County Courthouse also sustained damage, although it was not clear how much.

In Osborne County, mobile homes were damaged and a tractor-trailer blew into a grain elevator, causing damage, Watson said.