National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

SEVERE STORMS STRIKE OSAGE COUNTY

SEVERE STORMS STRUCK OSAGE COUNTY THE EVENING OF MAY 18, 2005.

METEOROLOGISTS FROM NOAA'S NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA, KS, SURVEYED STORM DAMAGE IN SOUTHERN OSAGE COUNTY. THE METEOROLOGISTS WERE ASSISTED IN THE STORM SURVEY BY THE OSAGE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY.

THE DAMAGE WAS LOCATED SOUTH OF MELVERN LAKE, ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MELVERN. 24 CARS OF A RAILROAD TRAIN WERE KNOCKED OFF THE RAILROAD TRACKS AND DAMAGED AT 915 PM CDT. WHILE ABOUT 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MELVERN A BARN WAS DESTROYED. ADDITIONAL DAMAGE WAS NOTED TO A SEMI TRAILER TRUCK AND A BUILDING ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTH AT THE I-35 AND HIGHWAY 75 JUNCTION, ALSO KNOWN AS BETO JUNCTION, AT 930 PM CDT.

THE SOUTHERN OSAGE COUNTY DAMAGE WAS DETERMINED TO BE CAUSED BY A DOWNBURST WIND ESTIMATED TO AROUND 80 MPH. NO DOLLAR AMOUNT HAS YET BEEN ASSIGNED TO THE DAMAGE IN OSAGE COUNTY.

SOME PICTURES OF THE DAMAGE