Storms rattle area (and elephants)
After National Weather Service warnings of a potentially historic outbreak, tornadoes hopscotched across the Great Plains and Midwest. They caused some damage and spooked two circus elephants, which escaped their enclosure.
At least four tornadoes touched down in Kansas.
The weather service had warned that hail bigger than baseballs and “a few strong-to-violent long-lived tornadoes” could strike Kansas, prompting Wichita State University to cancel evening classes.
The escaped elephants wandered around the town of WaKeeney, Trego County Sheriff Richard Schneider said. One was found in a nearby backyard, tranquilized and coaxed into a truck. The other entered a different backyard and also was coaxed into a truck.
Other tornadoes were reported in Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska and Missouri.
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