One death reported in Westmoreland, Kansas tornado

BEATRICE – Two tornadoes caused damage in northeast Kansas yesterday, apparently resulting in one death.

A tornado spotted at Westmoreland, Kansas at around 4:40 p.m. damaged  homes on the west side of the town.   The community is northeast of Manhattan.  Pottawatomie County officials confirmed one death in that tornado, and a Facebook post was asking people to stay out of the area while emergency personnel conducted a search.  Power had not been restored and there was damage to at least 20 homes.  A CNN report indicated that one person was killed and three were injured, in the town of about 740.

At around 5:10 p.m., a tornado observed in Nemaha County five miles southwest of Centralia, Kansas struck a house.   

Later in the evening, at 6:36 p.m., a tornado was spotted near U.S. Highway 24 near Topeka, but it was not immediately known if it caused any structural damage.

In southern Iowa, a brief tornado three miles west of Millerton did damage to outbuildings and power poles, at around 7:20 p.m.

In southeast Nebraska, golf ball sized hail was reported with a severe thunderstorm at Stella.  Quarter-sized hail was reported at Elk Creek, Auburn and Julian.  

Just across the border in Missouri, baseball sized hail was reported near Corning….causing significant damage to a police patrol car.  Hail slightly larger than a baseball fell at nearby Fairfax, Missouri and north of Mound City.

There were numerous reports of hail from thunderstorms in northwest Missouri, ranging from quarter to baseball-size.