TORNADO WARNINGS AND HIGH WINDS CANCEL FLIGHTS OUT OF DENVER
Tornados have touched down in Oklahoma as 1,100 flights were delayed in Denver and military bases evacuated in the latest round of storms to hit the Midwest.
The town of Barnsdall, Oklahoma, was rocked by a tornado that collapsed power lines and scattered debris Monday night. It moved in around 9:30 pm, destroying several homes. Photos from the scene showed the destructions as locals undertook search and rescues efforts.
The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch for portions of Southern Kansas, Western and Central Oklahoma, and Western North Texas Monday afternoon, effective through 11 pm.
Punishing hail and strong winds, including isolated gusts at speeds up to 75 mph, were anticipated to impact more than 3.4 million people.
Colorado felt the storm as it rolled across the state Monday evening, forcing airline carriers to delay or cancel more than 1,100 flights at Denver International Airport.
By evening, tornados were reported in Oklahoma with posts on social media showing funnel clouds near Perry.
In the city of just over 5,000 people, power lines snapped, trees were uprooted and at least one structure suffered damage, according to KFOR.
Trees and destroyed buildings were also reported near the Garfield County line with Kingfisher County in Oklahoma.
The cities of Barnsdall and Bartlesville both suffered extensive damage. Public Service Company of Oklahoma reported 4,200 power outages overall at around 10:15 pm, 2,254 of which were in Bartlesville alone.
'Supercells are expected to fire from western Oklahoma into western Kansas before moving east into the night,' AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tyler Roys warned. 'Not only will these storms likely contain a few tornadoes, but also giant, damaging hailstones.'
As sheets of rain fell and howling winds pummeled the state, schools and colleges including the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City Public Schools canceled late afternoon and evening activities.
More than 1,600 schools and 159 hospitals in the state face the most severe tornado threat, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm are expected to head northeast overnight and cause more damage in the Illinois and Indiana region.
Earlier in the day, the storms made their impacts felt in Colorado and Kansas.
Forceful gusts of 45 mph toppled small planes at Centennial Airport in Englewood, roughly seven miles outside Denver.
More than 1,100 flights were delayed at Denver. Inbound flights were delayed for an average of one hour and 18 minutes, while departing flights were delayed for an average of one hour and four minutes according to data from FlightAware.
On Monday morning, McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, moved several of its planes to other bases to shield them from damage. The forecast in the region calls for the possibility of damaging winds between 70 and 80 mph.
The Air Force sent McConnell’s KC-135R Stratotanker and KC-46A Pegasus aircraft to military bases outside the local area. Remaining crafts that were undergoing maintenance were tucked away in hangars.
The development marked the third time in four weeks that McConnell's planes have been moved due to inclement weather.
Three-inch-wide hail - roughly the size of an apple - was reported near the town of Ellinwood, 100 miles northwest of Wichita.
This week's treacherous weather comes on the heels of another storm system that paved a path of destruction through Texas. A funnel was spotted west of Anson on the evening of May 3 before it moved south east toward Truby and the community of Hodges and Hawley, a city in Jones County.
The tornado then crawled towards Abilene, roughly 180 miles west of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, leaving mangled trees and downed power lines in its wake. At around 7:20 pm, the tornado touched down in Tye along with baseball-sized hail.
And beginning April 26, dozens of tornadoes levelled buildings and caused blackouts in Nebraska, Iowa and Oklahoma.
Four deaths were reported in Oklahoma, including a four-month-old infant. Cities such as Sulphur and Holdenville were the hardest hit, accounting for three of the five deaths.
NWS survey teams reported damage consistent with an EF-3 tornado in the region, characterized by damaging gusts between 136 and 165 mph.
In Nebraska, hundreds of homes were flattened, ripped from their foundations, or had their roofs torn clean off.
The first twister hit Elkhorn at around 4 pm on April 26, razing at least six newly constructed homes and damaging dozens more.
The violent winds even overturned BNSF train cars along Route 6 between Waverly and Lincoln.
One more casualty was reported in Minden, Iowa, on Saturday, bringing the death count to five.
The unnamed man was fatally injured when she became trapped in his basement as a tornado roared overhead.
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