Pilot Witnesses Tornado: ‘It’s Ripping Everything Up’

 
(CNN) — Tornadoes touched down in two states on Sunday, ripping roofs off homes and turning trees to match sticks, as severe weather swept the region.

A large “violent and extremely dangerous” tornado was spotted on the southwest side of Wichita, Kansas, moving northeast at about 30 miles per hour, the National Weather Service said.

A second confirmed tornado was seen near Edmond, Oklahoma, moving east at about 30 miles per hour, said the weather service. Another tornado was spotted in nearby Luther, Oklahoma, but it was not immediately clear whether that was the same tornado.

Also, a tornado moving northeast at 40 miles per hour touched down near Wellston, Oklahoma, taking out power lines and damaging several homes, according to video from CNN affiliate KFOR. The affiliate’s helicopter pilot estimated the funnel cloud to be about a half-mile wide.

“It’s tearing up everything,” the pilot said. “Just ripping everything up in its sight.”

Aerial video from KFOR and CNN affiliate KOCO showed severe damage near Wellston and near Carney, Oklahoma. *Click the video player below for that video*

 

Roofs were ripped from homes, branches stripped from trees and roads were filled with debris. 

The weather service did not mince words.

“You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter. Complete destruction of neighborhoods, businesses and vehicles will occur. Flying debris will be deadly to people and animals,” it said in its Kansas advisory.

The twisters are part of a severe weather outbreak that is sweeping through parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and possibly Iowa and Missouri.

Baseball-sized hail, wind gusts and tornadoes are threatening to pummel parts of the central Plains and Midwest on Sunday and Monday.

“Overall, the threat is similar for the region: strong supercells that will have the capability to produce hail baseball-size or larger, strong wind gusts and tornadoes,” CNN meteorologist Melissa Le Fevre said earlier Sunday. “It will ultimately depends on how warm the region gets today.”

According to the weather service, supercells are a special type of thunderstorm that can last for many hours. “They are responsible for nearly all of the significant tornadoes produced in the U.S. and for most of the hailstones larger than golf ball size,” the weather service says. “Supercells are also known to produce extreme winds and flash flooding.”

Warmer temperatures are an important factor, Le Fevre said.

“Warmer temperatures allow for the air in the atmosphere to mix, which causes it to be unstable,” she said. “Sunny days are essentially more unstable, which allows thunderstorms to develop and become strong to severe.”

Beyond the Midwest, other areas were already seeing severe weather on Sunday. In Atlanta, serious flooding was reported amid storms producing heavy rainfall.

Read more:  http://fox8.com