PRESCOTT — A tornado touched down in Linn County near Prescott Sunday evening. KMBC Channel 9’s Johnny Rowlands was flying his helicopter in the area and caught pictures and followed the tornado as it developed and as it roared into Missouri. Most of the damage was to farm structures and trees, he said. The storm ripped trees out of the ground by their roots, “so that gives you an idea of the intensity of this tornado,” he said. The 130-year-old Fairmount church near Pleasanton was destroyed by the tornado. The church, built in 1884, was ripped into splintered wood. Several headstones of in the church’s adjacent Civil-War-era cemetery were toppled by the storm. Linn County officials said there were no injuries. The storm was part of a powerful severe-storm system that raked the southern U.S. and midwest, causing deaths, extensive damage and injuries. Nine were injured and nearly 100 homes and businesses destroyed after a tornado ripped through Baxter Springs Sunday night. “The path of the damage appears to be approximately two miles long and a span about two blocks wide,” said Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves. “Unfortunately, it did strike right through the residential heart and quite a few of the businesses down on Military Avenue.” Gov. Sam Brownback declared a state of emergency. Brownback, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran and Cong. Lynn Jenkins visited Baxter Springs today. In Hammond, north of Fort Scott, a grain elevator was blown onto a rail line, derailing eight train cars. Six homes were also damaged. Both the Kansas northeast and southeast region incident management teams were sent to Baxter Springs to help local authorities. Before it hit Baxter Springs, the tornado killed one person in Quapaw, Okla. At least 11 people in Arkansas were killed by tornadoes Sunday night. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe told ABC News that officials are trying to figure out how many people are unaccounted for and trying to locate the missing.
Monday, April 28, 3 p.m.
