Tornadoes aren’t the only type of wind events that can produce massive damage. On August 2, 1996 powerful thunderstorms moved across southwest and south central Kansas during the evening hours. Train cars were blown off the tracks while the train was moving, cars were blown off the highway, and over 60 power poles were blown over. One person was injured when a semi-truck was blown over on highway 156. There were unofficial and unconfirmed reports of 125 mph winds near Larned. Damage totals for the storms were reported to be 11.6 million dollars in property damage and over 2 million dollars in crop damage.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu