Outbreak of violent tornadoes barrel through Kansas
DODGE CITY, Kan. -- Homes were damaged and at least two people were critically injured in Kansas as severe storms swept across the Plains, authorities said Wednesday.
The Kansas Adjutant General's Department said the storms in western and south-central parts of the state downed trees and power lines and damaged rural homes and outbuildings.
Emergency management officials in Ford County reported that two people were critically injured Tuesday night and taken to a hospital in Dodge City, the department said in a statement early Wednesday.
No fatalities were reported.
Tornadoes were reported in several counties, and meteorologist Jesse Lee of the National Weather Service office in Dodge City said crews will survey the damage Wednesday.
Earlier, several structures were damaged when a "probable" tornado touched down in northeast Oklahoma, near Bristow, according to the weather service. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said no one was injured.
CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca reports at least eight homes were damaged in Bristow, where trees and power lines were torn apart.
"We heard the wind pick up a little bit," a man said. "We heard glass start breaking, then I heard all the lumber start just ripping apart, and I knew what was going on."
Tornado warnings were also issued in parts of eastern Colorado and the Texas Panhandle.
Storms are in the forecast all week in the Great Plains, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
Elsewhere, two weak tornadoes snapped pine trees as severe storms moved across Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the National Weather Service said. No injuries were reported. The agency said the first tornado was detected near Republic, Michigan, on Tuesday afternoon and the second a short time later nearby.