Saturday, Aug. 28, 2004

Tornado touchdowns send people to shelter as the destruction continues. Notorious Mother Nature strikes again, leaving even more Kansans homeless.

It was a scary Friday night for residents in southeast Kansas with a quick-moving storm that brought tornadoes, lightening, rain and strong winds. The strongest of those storms struck parts of Sumner and Cowley Counties.

At least two confirmed tornadoes touching down in Sumner County around 7 p.m. Friday, and those hit by the storms are cleaning up after an evening of wicked weather.

The wicked weather came almost out of nowhere, catching many Kansans off-guard.

Driving through southeast Kansas today, you could hardly notice that strong storms hit the area. Two houses being the exception, which a tornado struck last night, doing significant damage. Donna Hodges and her mother lived in the homes. The tornadoes ripped the back end off the home, tearing through power lines.

“They said the tornado touched down…and was spinning round and round,” said Hodges.

Hodges will never forget the first tornado she ever saw, the one that took everything she had: clothes, food, toys, even the new textbook she just bought for nursing school; all gone.

Hodges’ car was damaged in the storm. She said she saved a few clothes, but that’s about it.

The young, single mother of two boys left her apartment just in time to see the house where she’s lived for the last two years produced to rubble in the blink of an eye.

Hodges and her mother somehow keep a sense of humor regardless of the situation.

The landlord says Hodges’ house is a complete loss. They’ll have to bulldoze it. The one where Hodges’ mother lives, he says that one he can fix and rent again.

“I was concerned about my family,” said Wichita Fireman Randy Baxter. “I have a little 7-year-old daughter who was getting pretty upset. So, we decided we better at least get in the vehicle and get ready to get out of here, if the situation turned worse.”

Today, his family and friends packed up what they can save. Red Cross volunteers are on hand to provide food and shelter at least for the weekend.

The residents in southeast Kansas say they know things could’ve been much worse.

Sumner County Deputy Brandon Stitts was on his way to an accident when he ran straight into those storms.

“I was just hoping and praying that I was going to get to the accident and not have any injuries as a result of the tornado,” said Stitts.

The tornadoes packed a powerful punch, but it was the rain that most residents noticed.

Rainwater quickly filled ditches, spilling over into fields and streets. Highway 160 was temporarily closed between Wellington and Oxford and flooding made it too treacherous to pass.

In places like Udall and Wellington, you could mostly see broken tree limbs where clean up is underway. There’s a lot of that to do.

Southern Kansas isn’t the only part of the state to be hit hard by last night’s weather.

Heavy rain started falling in Kansas City around 5 p.m. Friday. Upwards of seven inches of rain fell, causing heavy flooding and stranding some motorists.

Last night, the Kansas City emergency operations center reported 60 high water rescues.