Video footage taken in Andover, Kansas on Friday (April 29) shows the moment a powerful EF-3 tornado shredded through the city, ripping up multiple buildings and causing a significant amount of damage.
Authorities said that several tornadoes actually touched down across Kansas and swept into Nebraska. Miraculously, only a few minor injuries have been reported so far, despite the hundreds of homes and businesses that were destroyed in the process.
“We had many buildings in Andover take very tough damage,” Andover Fire Chief Chad Russell told FOX Weather. “Total in the path there were 966 buildings, we believe. We do not have a damage assessment of how many of those were damaged.”
The Andover YMCA was one of the buildings that suffered a significant amount of damage when the twister roared through the neighborhood while 60 people were inside the building.
In the aftermath, several cars and debris got mangled up against the YMCA with a couple of cars actually getting embedded into the building.
“I had a Buick Lucerne – it got picked up and tossed around and slammed into a tree,” Aaron Becker, who was inside the YMCA during the storm told FOX Weather. “It was my first car… and when I walked out seeing that (damage)… it’s just hard…now it’s kind of like ‘what am I going to do?’”
Fortunately, all 60 people who were inside the YMCA were able to make it to a safe shelter before the tornado hit.
“It’s devastating. I’ve never seen the aftermath of just something like this,” Rachel Schnitzler, who also attended the YMCA said. “I mean, there are cars flipped upside down, and it’s just it’s very sad. It’s just going to take a while. I think we should focus on the people who were directly affected first and start rebuilding from there.”
BLESSING: Even through storm damage of their own, and no electricity, the Andover Baptist Church is serving hot food and caring for their neighbors on this Sunday. Wonderful to see this oasis of compassion. #foxweather pic.twitter.com/twp52Ilk23
— Will Nunley (@willnunley) May 1, 2022
School officials with Prairie Creek Elementary also said school is out until at least May 9 while they scramble to find new homes for students to stay in to finish out the year after many of them had their homes destroyed.
“Some rooms were untouched, while others were heavily damaged,” the school wrote on Facebook. “Our community has experienced a traumatic event, and it will take time for us to heal. We will get through this together.”