Hit by twisters, high water, southern Plains braces for more severe weather
The southern Plains states from Texas to Kansas are bracing for another rough round of high winds, damaging hail and possible tornadoes through Saturday after a wild ride Wednesday that ripped up homes in Oklahoma and Nebraska and brought some of the biggest floods ever to the Oklahoma City area.
Around 50 reports of tornadoes were documented in Wednesday's severe weather outbreak, along with numerous hail and wind reports, AccuWeather said.
The lone storm-related death from Wednesday's storm was a 42-year-old woman who was found early Thursday drowned in a Oklahoma City tornado shelter, police said, according to NewsOK.com.
Several homes were destroyed by apparent tornadoes southwest of Oklahoma City. Twenty people were injured, five critically, when a possible twister hit an RV park in metropolitan Oklahoma City, KOKH-TV reports.
One unexpected threat from the storm -- tigers and other exotic animals. Several beasts were sprung by a tornado that hit the Tiger Safari Park in Tuttle, Okla., Wednesday, KFOR-TV reports. It was not immediately clear how many got loose, or exactly which critters other than tigers made it out of the park. Tiger Safari also keeps bears and leopards. In any case, all of the animals had been rounded up by 11 p.m. In the meantime, local residents had been cautioned to remain indoors.
In Nebraska, 10 to 15 homes were damaged near Grand Island, and between Hardy and Ruskin, near the Kansas line. At least nine tornadoes were reported in the state, the strongest of them in the sparsely populated north-central part of the state.
In Harvey County, a tornado destroyed a hog shed, damaged trees and knocked down power lines, KWCH TV reported.
The storms also dumped more than 7 inches of rain in the southern part of Oklahoma City on Wednesday, prompting the city to issue a flash flood emergency for the first time in its history, said city spokeswoman Kristy Yager.
Officially, Oklahoma City picked up 7.1 inches of rain on Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported, which made it the 3rd-rainiest day in the city's history. Weather records there go back to 1890.
Later Thursday, storms are set to blossom across eastern Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, which will likely carry over into the night and into the weekend. Texas cities at risk include Dallas and Fort Worth.
"The primary threat with these storms will be damaging winds and large hail, but isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out," the weather service said.
There is little sign that the severe weather will abate for the weekend, with the NWS warning of yet another round across parts of the Great Plains on Saturday.
"Widespread intense thunderstorms should develop over portions of Oklahoma, Kansas and Teas during the afternoon," the NWS Storm Prediction Center says."Tornadoes, very large hail and damaging winds are likely in these areas."
Contributing: Associated Press