ANDOVER, Kan — A tornado ripped through Andover Kansas Friday night leaving behind a path of destruction. While no major injuries were reported, authorities say more than 1,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged.
The Rylant family witnessed the twister firsthand as they were in their third story apartment building when the tornado ripped through their neighborhood. Curtis Rylant explained had that tornado shifted paths, he wouldn’t know if his family would be OK.
“We saw it come down and go back up and the second time it came down it stayed down, we saw debris and it came back up,” Curtis said.
Ellie Rylant was with her family when the tornado hit, she’s a nurse and said as soon as she heard the sirens she rushed to her local YMCA to offer assistance.
"We walked out of our apartment and the sky was still really creepy,” Ellie said. “ I just thought, oh my gosh, this is Friday night, there's going to be so many people at the YMCA, Kids get dropped off, they play basketball, and I just couldn't hardly think of not coming over to try to find out if anybody needed help. It's kinda scary, the sky was pretty crazy, didn't know if something was going to drop down at any minute.”
The Andover YMCA was severely destroyed by the tornado, but no one was hurt. Crew continue to work on cleaning up the twister’s path of destruction and at this time no total damage costs have been reported.
The Rylant apartment wasn’t damaged, but their car was totaled. Still, they’re thankful their community is now safe, and are working with their neighbors to try and rebuilt.
“People help people and I think everyone we act as neighbors, and if someone is in need, someone is going to help,” Ellie said.
