Midwest Storms Injure 3, Damage Property

Kansas Appears To Take Brunt Of Spring Storms; Tornado Reported In Nebraska

At least three people were injured Thursday when a line of thunderstorms blew through the Midwest.

Authorities said tornadoes and golfball-size hail were part of the storms that destroyed homes, knocked down power lines and tipped over trailers in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.

It appears Kansas got hit hardest. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared a state of emergency in one southeastern county.

Lightning or downed power lines may have sparked prairie fires that forced evacuation of several homes near the central Kansas city of Hutchinson. Wind also flipped a semitrailer in northeastern Kansas, officials said.

The most violent weather moved out of southeastern Kansas after spawning hailstorms, high winds and tornadoes.

At least one person was injured when a twister carved a path through Montgomery County in the southeast part of the state. In addition, five homes were destroyed and several mobile homes were tipped over north of Independence.

A news release from the Kansas governor's office said an injured man was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Joplin, Mo. Other injuries were blamed on traffic accidents, according to authorities.

The National Weather Service said a tornado also was spotted in Sedalia, Mo., which had already been hit hard March 12 by a twister that damaged or destroyed more than 100 homes.

Kansas City television station KMBC-TV reported that the storm damaged buildings and destroyed a nursery. Utility crews were out overnight trying to restore power to the area.

One person in a mobile home suffered minor injuries, the station reported.

Nebraskans Clean Up After Heavy Storms

Damage reports poured in from Omaha, Neb., on Thursday after a major storm blew out of the city at about 4:15 p.m.

Omaha's KETV-TV reported that the Sarpy County (Neb.) Courthouse had its flag ripped off the pole, according to reports. A Papillion, Neb., city office building reported that all of its windows had been blown out.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Thursday that at least one weak tornado touched down during Thursday afternoon's storms just south of Papillion.

Troy Armitage

Troy Armitage snapped this photo of the funnel on his cell phone.

Weather service forecasters said an F-zero tornado touched down near 84th Street and Capehart Road. F-zero is the weakest designation for tornadoes.

Troy Armitage was driving north on 156th Street near Q Street at about 4 p.m. when he saw the tornado. He stopped, turned around and snapped a picture of the funnel with his cell phone camera.

"I saw a total black cloud, then I saw that it came out of the sky, and that's when I took the picture," Armitage said. "Everything was shaking. A few stop signs hit the floor, and that's when I turned around. It was black. It was ugly. I had to go. There was so much wind wrapping around. I was just praying. I had to go."

Armitage said he's been through tornadoes before, but not quite like this one. He took the photograph (featured, left) from about a mile away.

KETV reporters said the area around 44th and L streets in Omaha saw serious damage, including a destroyed building and downed power lines. The Omaha Public Power District said downed power lines had knocked power out to more than 3,000 people.

Authorities said two trucks were blown off Interstate 80, according to The Associated Press.

Storm Batters Iowa

In Iowa, there were several reports of 1 inch hail in the town of Altoona. Just before 7:30 p.m., KCCI-TV meteorologists recorded 72 mph winds in Latimer, as well as 60 mph winds in Rockwell City and Ankeny.

On Interstate 80 between Stuart and Menlo, five tractor-trailers were flipped over by the strong winds. There were no injuries, and the trucks were moved off the interstate, the station reported.

A mobile home park in the west part Ames also was damaged. A viewer at the scene told KCCI-TV that one mobile home was destroyed and one or two others were severely damaged. He also said that emergency crews were at the mobile home park.

In Boone County, a tree fell on a mobile home, injuring two people. Trees were also down in the town of Stuart.

MidAmerican Energy said 2,300 customers without power early Friday morning across central Iowa. The largest concentration of those without power was in Urbandale, where 700 customers were experiencing outages early Friday.

Crews were working to restore service. Outages were also reported in Des Moines, Dallas Center, Altoona, Fort Dodge, Jasper County, Marion County and other areas.