Storms rattle Kansas and its elephants

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Tornadoes have hopscotched across the Great Plains and Midwest, causing some damage and spooking two circus elephants that escaped their enclosure, according to Times wire reports.

The escaped elephants wandered around the town of WaKeeney, Kansas, 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.

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.

Other tornadoes were reported in Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska and Missouri.

--Francisco Vara-Orta