Tornado damage reported in Andover

ANDOVER, Kan. (KSNW) — A tornado caused damage Friday night in Andover and Butler County. The storm formed in Sedgwick County and made its way into Butler County just after 8 p.m.

As of right now, there are no confirmed injuries.

However, the YMCA in Andover was hit. There are authorities on the scene assessing the damage.

The Greater Wichita YMCA said in a statement, “the Andover YMCA suffered significant damage as a result of the storm that hit the Andover area this evening. We are thankful that all of the staff and members that took shelter at the branch at the time of the storm, were not injured. The branch will be closed until further notice. We will keep everyone updated as details become available.”

Wichita Interim Police Chief Lem Moore said, “please do not come to Andover unless you have to. Emergency services want to focus on the families in Andover and not have to manage people wanted to drive by to see the damages.”

In Sedgwick County, David Dennis, Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, issued a verbal declaration of emergency to activate Sedgwick County Emergency Operations Center and the Local Emergency Operations Plan.

Sedgwick County is currently evaluating the damage in southeast Wichita/Sedgwick County and will follow up with more information.

“We have all of our partner agencies coming in. We do have crews on the ground now in Sedgwick County doing damage assessments, going door to door in the southeast portion of the city trying to give us information about how bad it may be in Sedgwick County,” said Sedgwick County Emergency Management Director Julie Stimson. “So right now, we are gathering data. We have resources lined up for whatever need may be needed out there.”

Stimson urges people to not travel to the area.

“We have power outages in that part of the city right now. There is damage. We need to allow our crews to do what they need to do to help people right now out there in that disaster area. We do not need onlookers at this time,” said Stimson. “Right now, we are on immediate search and rescue and scene safety.”

The declaration will help facilitate state aid.

KSN has multiple crews on the scene and will update this story with more information as it comes in.

Close Modal Suggest a Correction Suggest a Correction