EF3 Tornado — Ford, Kansas

2016-05-24 · near Bloom, Ford, Kansas

Event narrative

Family took shelter in an underground unit and was able to survive. The modular home was completely destroyed. Two vehicles were thrown about 150 yards. Another truck was carried, rolled, thrown with the bed located 1200 yards from the original location. The two occupants in the home destroyed were in a reinforced concrete bunker but one received minor injuries when a piece of pipe was driven into the wall breaking out concrete. The steal rebar prevented the chunk of pipe from penetrating into the individual. Visually at one point this tornado appeared to be strong enough to cause EF4 damage.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms erupted during the late afternoon ahead of a dry line. Numerous tornado producing supercell thunderstorms were observed. Dodge City, although with parts damaged by a tornado, escaped a major disaster as tornadoes near that location moved north and northwest, instead of moving northeast (as dictated by the upper steering winds).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.5031, -100.1355)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 640996. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.