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EF2 tornado in Osborne County, Kansas

Tornado May 5, 2007 · Osborne County, Kansas

EF2

Rating

7.5 mi

Path length

75 yd

Path width

Injuries

$150K

Damage as recorded

$50K

Crop damage

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado sat down south of Osborne and moved north into town. The twister destroyed 2 mobile homes, damaged roofs, fences, cars and windows, and damaged 2 restaurants. The Pizza Hut sustained minor damage and several employees' car windows were blown out. Across the road, the Circle Inn lost a large part of their roof, a couple of outside walls, and substantial damage happened to the interior portion of the restaurant. A couple of semi-trailers were blown around and one ended up on top of another car. Eleven people were injured, none seriously, and were treated at the Osborne County Memorial Hospital. The Osborne County Sheriff's office reported the most severe injury was a broken arm. (sources: Osborne County Farmer newspaper, Osborne County Sheriff's office, and the Osborne County Emergency Management Agency).

The wider storm

Thunderstorms rumbled across northern Kansas. A few became severe in the early evening hours. One produced a tornado in Osborne. This tornado damaged homes and two restaurants in town. Other storms in Mitchell and Jewell Counties produced hail to the size of quarters.

Began near Osborne (39.3866, -98.7000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 35783. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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