Kansas

‘It looked like an umbilical cord.’ Residents clean up after deadly Kansas tornado

Published

2 years ago

May 1, 2024

‘It looked like an umbilical cord.’ Residents clean up after deadly Kansas tornado

WESTMORELAND — With a tornado headed directly toward their Westmoreland home, retirees Barry and Beverly Toburen sought refuge Tuesday with their three dogs in their bathroom.

The lights flickered off, came back on, then flickered off again, Barry Toburen told The Capital-Journal on Wednesday.

Then the tornado hit.

“My ears popped real loud, and everything went sideways there,” Toburen said. “It blew the door in on me, knocked me over on top of the wife, and then all of a sudden, it got real light. Obviously, it got light because the roof was gone. And then the sheetrock and everything came down on top of us.”

The Toburens’ home was in or near ground zero of the area hit by Tuesday’s tornado, which Pottawatomie County public information officer Becky Ryan said killed one person, caused minor injuries to three others, destroyed 22 homes and left 13 homes damaged but livable.

The name, age and gender of the person who died wasn’t being immediately released.

‘It looked like an umbilical cord’

Leslie Campbell said her husband videotaped the tornado on his cellphone as they watched it from a large hill.

The tornado “didn’t look like a tornado,” Campbell said. “It looked like an umbilical cord.”

“It was really long, and it didn’t touch down for a long time, and finally we saw it touch down,” she said.

Campbell said the homes damaged in Westmoreland included that of her mother-in-law, Linda Campbell.

Father and son sought shelter in hallway as tornado destroyed home

Ashley Van Gilder, a Westmoreland resident whose home was among those hit, described what happened as being “just devastating.”

She said she wasn’t home at the time, but her husband and their 8-year-old son Joseph were.

Joseph said he and his father sought shelter in a hallway of their home as the tornado loudly passed though.

“It was very weird,” he said. “We heard it touch down. It was cracking and stuff.”

Joseph’s father held him down as the tornado passed through, he said.

The family’s hallway has always been its “safe place” during times of potential severe weather, though members had talked earlier this week about potentially finding an alternative, Ashley VanGilder said.

Westmoreland family digs out from destroyed home

Barry Toburen, whose house was destroyed, said he had stood outside watching as the twister approached.

“The wife said, ‘Get your butt in the house!” he said.

Later, after crawling out from the wreckage, Barry Toburen said he realized that a large limb had been coming toward his head but stopped just short of it.

The tornado destroyed items that included Barry Toburen’s brand new lawnmower.

“I mowed the yard twice with it,” he said, with a laugh.

Barry Toburen said he managed to recover other items that included medals he’d been awarded while in the military.

He said he and his wife had gotten a motel room in nearby Wamego and were boarding their three dogs with a veterinarian there.

Another Westmoreland family is trying to salvage ‘sentimental things’

Jason Resser said he was away when the tornado went straight down the middle of the house where he has lived for 24 years.

“Everything in the core of the house is completely gone,” said Resser, who is manager of Westmoreland’s Dollar General Store.

He said he and his wife and children were looking Wednesday for “sentimental things” and furniture they could reuse.

Spokeswoman: 175 people turned out to help clean up debris

A team from the National Weather Service’s Topeka office was in Westmoreland on Wednesday assessing the damage and determining Tuesday’s tornado’s rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale used to measure tornado intensity, said Nathan Griesemer, a meteorologist for that office.

Storm surveys were also being conducted in Shawnee, Jefferson and Nemaha counties.

In addition to the houses that were hit, the tornado destroyed five outbuildings, including one each owned by Pottawatomie County and housing its recycling processing and noxious weed operations, said Ryan, the Pottawatomie County public information officer.

Pottawatomie County offices, which are based in Westmoreland, were closed to the public Wednesday.

More than 175 people were in Westmoreland on Wednesday helping clean up debris, Ryan said, describing that turnout as “amazing.”

Those helping clean up included at least 30 teachers and other employees from local schools.

The American Red Cross on Tuesday evening provided a temporary shelter at Rock Creek High School, Ryan said. That was being moved Wednesday to the Westmoreland Community Building, she said.

The Salvation Army was on hand providing meals, she said.

Tuesday’s tornado fatality was the first in Kansas since Richard D. Slade, 53, was killed Feb. 28, 2012, by a EF-2 tornado that struck his home at Harveyville in Wabaunsee County.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

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Kansas

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Saturday after Wednesday sub-state wins

Published

9 minutes ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Saturday after Wednesday sub-state wins

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Wednesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.

WIBW Scoreboard

BOYS

6A Boys West Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Topeka High 57, Washburn Rural 50 (will play Maize Saturday)
Junction City 70, Dodge City 56 (will play Derby Saturday)
Manhattan 58, Wichita-Northwest 56 (will play Wichita-East Saturday)

4A Boys East Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Rock Creek 62, Louisberg 57 (will play Bishop Miege Saturday)
Atchison 74, Wamego 43
Hayden 72, Independence 56 (will play Atchison Saturday)
Eudora 76, Santa Fe Trail 68

GIRLS

5A West Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Hays 80, Topeka West 18
Eisenhower 55, Seaman 41
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 71, Emporia 41

5A East Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Shawnee Heights 89, Sumner 15 (will play Pittsburg Saturday)
Basehor-Linwood 74, Highland Park 28 (will play Piper Saturday)

3A Pomona-West Franklin Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Osage City 75, Columbus 31 (will play Frontenac Saturday)

3A Sabetha Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Silver Lake 48, Nemaha Central 26 (will play Riley County Saturday)
Riley County 51, Jeff West 40 (will play Silver Lake)

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Kansas

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.

WIBW Scoreboard

BOYS

5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)

5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)

3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)

3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)

GIRLS

6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)

4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)

2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)

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Kansas

Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union

In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000.

The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas – from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future.

The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.

“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”

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