Kansas EF-3 tornado survivor says sirens failed to sound before deadly storm struck Westmoreland

Steven Yablonski, Andrew Wulfeck
Updated ·2 min read
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WESTMORELAND, Kan. – The small Kansas town of Westmoreland was left reeling after a deadly EF-3 tornado struck the tightknit community Tuesday afternoon as severe weather swept across the region just days after the worst tornado outbreak of 2024 so far devastated towns in the Plains and Midwest.

Damage in the northeastern Kansas town outside of Topeka was considerable, with Pottawatomie County officials saying nearly two dozen homes were destroyed and another 13 were heavily damaged by the EF-3 tornado. The National Weather Service said the twister had winds up to 140 mph.

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One commercial building was also damaged during the extreme weather event.

Officials did not confirm the identity of the person who was killed in the tornado but told FOX Weather that the victim was inside one of the homes that were destroyed.

Several other people were also reported to be injured.

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FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray was in Westmoreland on Wednesday morning and spoke to a tornado survivor who said she didn’t hear any tornado sirens wailing until after the storm had already devastated the community.

"It was loud. Everything was happening all at once," Brandi Henry said. "My sister was bawling. And it just, once everything was done and over, we had come outside, and everything was just gone."

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Henry said that as the tornado roared, no sirens were sounding to warn residents of the impending danger.

"The sirens didn’t go off until 2 minutes, it was on the ground already," she said. "So, it didn’t go off until 2 minutes after it had already hit. Then the sirens stopped as we were going to Campbell Street."

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Ray said he questioned Becky Ryan, the Public Information Officer for Pottawatomie County, about the lack of sirens. She said the storm occurred extremely fast.

"It was very sudden," she said. "It was just very quick. I don’t know that there would have been able to be any warning."

Ryan said power had been restored to homes that weren’t destroyed by the tornado, and a team of volunteers and first responders are helping with the cleanup efforts that are currently underway.

The FOX Forecast Center said Tuesday’s severe weather was caused by a dip in the jet stream that dove over the northern Rockies, allowing for supercell thunderstorms to develop ahead of the cold front that stretched from the eastern Rockies to the Plains and Midwest.

NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center said it had received more than 150 storm reports, including more than a dozen tornado reports from Iowa to Oklahoma.


Original article source: Kansas EF-3 tornado survivor says sirens failed to sound before deadly storm struck Westmoreland