Five people hurt when tornado hits Eureka, KS

EUREKA, Kan. (KWCH) -- Five people were injured, one critically, when a tornado ripped through the eastern Kansas town of Eureka Tuesday.

Buildings and homes are damaged, trees have been uprooted and power is out.

Emergency Management officials say the town, 60 miles east of Wichita, took a direct hit.

Our sister station, KWCH in Wichita, quotes the Greenwood County Sheriff as saying residents had four minutes warning before the twister hit.

Daybreak brought the first clear look at the damage. Gov. Jeff Colyer has declared a State of Emergency.

It's the second time in two years that Eureka has taken a heavy hit from a storm.

Lane Neighbors was among the townspeople huddling for shelter. "We were all freaking out," he said. "We felt the vibrations. The door was swinging open, vibrating. It was trying to open but it couldn't fully. We were just all in there scared." He told KWCH, "We were probably in there for two, three minutes. It felt like hours but everything was gone when we came back out."

Laura Brubaker said, "Sirens went off and I was kind of watching on the front porch like most of Kansas and, um, the warning was going off, the wind started like really rip-roaring around and I could hear something like, it sounded like a train."

Erik Herb said, "I walked outside and there was debris everywhere."

"We just wasn't expecting it,"Galdis Tannahill said, "and, uh, look out and see all the metal flying by and all the trees and it just kept blowing."

First responders spent the night peeling away the wreckage in search of the injured.

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