'I don't know half of them': Kansans bring trucks and tractors to help tornado victims

Someday, Ashley Steenback will tell her soon-to-be-born daughter about the EF-1 tornado that slammed into their farm when she was seven and a half months pregnant.

Steenback was rushed to a hospital with high blood pressure concerns Monday morning after that twister left outbuildings and vehicles mangled at her family's farm near Overbrook at 11499 S. Shawnee Heights Road.

But Ethan Steenback said his wife and their unborn daughter were doing fine and had returned by Monday afternoon to their home, which didn't appear to have been seriously damaged.

"They just wanted to check her out for a bit to make sure that everything's all right," he said.

What happened when tornado crossed Osage and Shawnee counties?

The Steenback property was among those affected by a tornado that the National Weather Service said touched down at 6:07 a.m. Tuesday, four miles west/southwest of Overbrook in northeast Osage County.

The tornado stayed on the ground for 9.8 miles and 20 minutes going north/northeast, then lifted back up into the sky at 6:27 a.m. near the unincorporated community of Richland in far southeastern Shawnee County, the weather service said. No fatalities were reported.

Two people were injured, both when the tornado flipped the recreational vehicle they were in, the weather service's Topeka office said on its website. Neither was seriously hurt.

Dollar estimates of damages and names of the victims weren't available.

The twister measured at EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita scale used to measure tornado intensity, the weather service said.

The tornado was 75 yards wide and generated peak winds of 100 mph, it said.

The weather service said no injuries or deaths were reported from an earlier EF-1 tornado, which touched down at 5:51 a.m. Tuesday just north of Eisenhower State Park in central Osage County.

That twister was on the ground for six minutes going north/northeast, the weather service's Topeka office said on its website.

It said the twister was 100 yards wide, stayed on the ground for 3.5 miles and generated peak winds of 110 mph.

Ethan Steenback said he was away in the greater Kansas City area when the tornado hit the farm where he lives with Ashley Steenback and their 7-year-old daughter, Paisley.

"Thank God, she grabbed the kid and wrapped her up and got her in the bathroom," he said.

The tornado left "metal everywhere," Ethan Steenback said.

He expressed amazement at how many area residents came afterward to check on their family and see how they might be able to help.

"There were people I didn't even know," he said.

One Overbrook family lost half their farm buildings in tornado

Overbrook resident Rae Colson said it brought tears to her eyes to see how much support she and her husband got from their community.

Colson said she and her husband took refuge from the tornado in their basement, then emerged to see that "half of our farm buildings were in the highway."

But very quickly, neighbors started showing up to help, she said.

"They brought their trucks," Colson said. "They brought their tractors. And I don't know half of them."

Family heard wind 'change direction' followed by tornado damage

Near the point where the tornado lifted back into the sky, it caused the cast-iron flue part of their chimney to fall atop the pergola located just outside Chad and Melissa Cannon's home at 6336 S.E. 105th, Melissa Cannon said. The fireplace flue is the duct by which smoke exits the home.

The storm also appeared to have managed a trampoline and knocked over a large tree on the Cannon property.

Chad Cannon — as he left for work about 6 a.m., before the tornado hit — had warned his wife that nearby Overbrook was in a tornado warning, she said.

She said she was watching TV soon afterward with their children, 14-year-old Chloe and 10-year-old Gage, when they heard the wind "kind of change direction," then heard the chimney flue fall.

A power outage resulting from the storm caused Overbrook schools to shut down for the day, Melissa Cannon said.

'We don't see this all that often'

A storm spotter saw the twister on the ground at Richland as he called in a report at 6:27 a.m. to the weather service, said Brandon Drake, a meteorologist for its office in Topeka.

Damage "consistent with a weak tornado" was found in the Richland area, said Dusty Nichols, director of Shawnee County Emergency Management.

The tornado accompanied severe thunderstorms that swept through northeast Kansas.

Drake had cautioned during a media webinar Monday that storms late Monday and early Tuesday might involve "a tornado or two."

The "night-time aspect of tornado potential" was the primary reason the webinar was held, Drake said in an email.

"We don't see this all that often at least in this area," he wrote.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Residents show damage from Tuesday morning tornado south of Topeka