Story highlights
NEW: Official: A reported tornado damages 6 farms in Kansas, totally destroying 1
Strong winds cause damage in northwestern Pennsylvania
There's a moderate chance of severe weather in Oklahoma, Nebraska
Another round of severe weather threatened America’s heartland on Tuesday, with tornado watches posted across parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.
At least one tornado touched down in north-central Kansas on Tuesday afternoon, causing damage to some homes and power lines in the rural area, the National Weather Service reported.
Six farms in and around Corning, Kansas, were struck, one of which was completely destroyed, said Nemaha County emergency manager Todd Swart.
“I imagine there are some dead hogs,” Swart said Tuesday night, “but we have no reports of (human) injuries or deaths. We are still working to restore power.”
Firefighters went out to assess another reported tornado 6 miles east in Goff but didn’t come across any damage, according to Swart.
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Later Tuesday, strong winds – which National Weather Service reports said may have been a tornado, though local police said they were more likely potent straight-line winds – caused damage near Waterford, Pennsylvania. This northwestern Pennsylvania town is about 15 miles south of Erie.
The storms came a day after straight-line winds of up to 80 mph whipped the Springfield, Illinois, area. A microburst spawned by a severe thunderstorm damaged about 70 trailers.
“The damage occurred from debris. Tree limbs at a height of 10 to 20 feet were broken and they damaged the roofs of the mobile homes,” said David Butt, director of the Sangamon County Office of Emergency Management. “No roofs were torn off. No roofs were peeled back. The only damage to roofs was being penetrated by wind-blown debris.”
One person suffered a minor laceration in the process, Butt said.
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The weather service’s Storm Prediction Center is forecasting even more severe weather on Wednesday. Areas most likely to see such conditions include much of central Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas.
This will most likely occur in the form of severe thunderstorms, though the forecast notes there’s also a greater probability than usual of “large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes.”
A larger area has a slight chance of severe weather, including the cities of Des Moines, Iowa; St. Louis, Missouri; most of South Dakota; and much of Texas, including Dallas and Fort Worth.
CNN’s Greg Botelho and Carma Hassan contributed to this report