PRAIRIE VILLAGE, Kan. — Residents in some parts of Prairie Village are still cleaning up from Sunday’s storms.
The National Weather Service reported an EF1 tornado, with mostly EF0 damage, occurred at roughly 10:39 p.m. near W. 79th Street and Lamar Avenue in Overland Park.
The tornado tracked northeast through Prairie Village and Fairway before ending around 10:50 p.m. on the western edge of Mission Hills.
"All of a sudden, there was a loud boom and the power went out. I'm like, 'What just happened?'” said Prairie Village resident Trevor Stone.
Stone said the storm gave him a new perspective of the oak tree in his front yard.
"It hit here (on the roof) and just missed my car in the driveway,” he said.
He said he was surprised the thunderstorm warning produced a tornado.
"If I had heard tornado sirens, I would've gone to the basement, but again, my safety wasn't in jeopardy,” Stone said.
NWS KC told KSHB 41 that sometimes brief, short-lived tornadoes can come from thunderstorm warnings.
"Last night, we had an intense line of thunderstorms move into the Kansas City metro. There were multiple reports of damaging straight-line winds as it moved through. Sometimes, with these types of systems, small, embedded circulations can occur along the leading edge," NWS KC shared. "Oftentimes, these produce an enhancement of the straight-line winds, but sometimes, they can result in a brief EF0 or EF1 tornado.
"We've confirmed two such instances of this from last night. The radar signatures for these types of events can be subtle and weak in nature. There were severe thunderstorm warnings in effect, and we make every attempt to identify and appropriately warn for these short-lived tornadoes."
Other Prairie Village residents were confused by the lack of a heads-up.
"We're in Kansas, there's thunderstorms a lot during this time of year,” said resident Matthew Kersten. “So it would've been nice to have a little bit better of a warning, I suppose."
Kersten's home sustained damage in the storm.
"We realized the extent when we peeked outside," he said. "Our power went off, we turned the flashlight on and looked around, and saw these gigantic trees down everywhere."
Residents were hopeful Tuesday’s severe weather wouldn't leave them with more to clean up. But they said if it does, they're in it together.
"This stuff can be replaced, you can't," Stone said.
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