1,600 residents were evacuated and they were ordered not to come back as emergency squads continued to comb the wreckage with tractors and dogs to see if any survivors remained.
(GREENSBURG, Kansas) - A massive tornado swept through Greensburg, Kansas, killing at least least seven people. The destruction resulted in the collapse of a hospital and wrecked up to 90 percent of a small town in southern Kansas, local and federal officials say.
In addition to the seven people killed, around 60 people were injured, and more than a dozen of those injuries were serious.
1,600 residents were evacuated and they were ordered not to come back as emergency squads continued to comb the wreckage with tractors and dogs to see if any survivors remained.
According to reports some 30 people were pulled from the rubble of Kiowa County Memorial Hospital in Greensburg as the storm ripped homes off their foundations and even damaged below-ground shelters.
The tornado that struck Greensburg late on Friday damaged about 90 percent of the town about 110 miles west of Wichita, City Administrator Steve Hewitt told reporters Saturday.
The US National Weather Center warned of more severe weather in the midwest region Saturday, that could bring more severe tornadoes into the large swath of Kansas and Nebraska to the north.
Some experts also suggest that there may have been more than one twister in the region late Friday night.
Another big problem for people in this devastated area is communications, which were severely disrupted by the damage, causing telephone "land lines" and cell phones to be unusable. Service is being reestablished at this time.
Seven Die in Massive Kansas TornadoSalem-News.com