Hunker down Midwest
 

We're supposed to get rough weather later, but hopefully not nados.

Ay caracho ... 3" Magnum shells?

Everything is very calm here, after a smoldering hot day :cool:

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Very dangerous situation here. Tornado confirmed on the ground getting ready to head into my county and into heavily populated areas. Clean air ahead of it to build steam. Its not even raining here yet. 30 minutes to an hour before I start seeing the brunt of it.

Big hail too. Reports of tennis ball size. The only vehicle outside is my 3/4 ton dodge.

Its traveling on a very similar trajectory to the 1991 Tornado. Clobbered McConnell air force base South of town, skirted around Wichita and decimated the big suburb of Andover.

Its been an incredible Tornado outbreak so far. I wonder what the final count is? No reports of any fatalities so far.

Oof food luck everyone, as usual all the best. Those in the path please let us (me) know you're ok.

Real bad news. Tearing up town now. Should go South of us but we are hunkering down. Might have taken out the dealer auction I go to.... looks to be hitting the airforce base again. Power is flickering.... better post.

Keep your head down Tyler !!!
Best stay off the net for a while until it dies down.

Good luck Tyler, hope you guys are OK. Keep us updated. Cars/auction/property/etc. is worth much more than actual life.

Absolutely! My wife has friends in the Andover area and they were preparing for the worst.

Looks like it lifted before Andover, then touched down in Towanda and made its way though Eldorado. Big damage in South-East Wichita. Damage can't really be assessed due to the darkness and all the power lines blocking roads. Some reports of a trailer park being wiped out, nursing home with its roof blown off, and Spirit Aerosystems taking heavy damage. We have power, but a mile South does not. The generic path puts it within 3 miles of me.

I went around for a look, and there's quite a bit of serious damage, but nothing looking catastrophic. Snapped telephone poles, damaged roofs, dangling power lines, windows, trees down everywhere, but not a complete warzone like you'd see with a F4 or F5. Tons of gawkers, like me, making a huge traffic mess with all the traffic lights being out. Took the turnpike by Spirit and was dodging debris. Going by spirit, there was a big gas smell from where I was, about half a mile away. Ran over a power line accidentally. :eek:

Downtown Wichita is supposedly impassible in some places due to flooding, and its not going to get any better. Another round of storms that won't pack a big punch, but more heavy rain is on the way. Flooding may be a big story as well. I saw places flooded during my drive that I've never seen before.

The morning will shed light on how bad it really was. I'm curious how Eldorado came out, as well as areas North of us such as around Salina. Right as things were going down here another confirmed Tornado was clobbering that area. Seemed like dozens of other confirmed tornados throughout the state as well. News does not come in very fast from these remote areas.

It certainly lived up to all the hype, but I'm tentatively optimistic that things weren't totally catastrophic. Forecasts and warnings were excellent, and a new radar system can show if debris is being pushed into the air, giving confirmation and a strength estimate of a tornado.