Kansas Faces Emergency Disaster: EF-2 Tornado, Flash Floods, and Overnight Rescues

Governor Laura Kelly declared a state of disaster emergency for Kansas on Monday after a brutal weekend of storms left southeast Kansas shattered, a man buried in rubble, train cars overturned, and nearly 2,000 homes still without power as of Tuesday morning.

What the EF-2 Tornado Did to Sycamore

The tornado’s path was half a mile wide and cut four miles across Montgomery County, impacting as many as 170 properties — including significant damage to several homes, barns, and outbuildings.

It was rated EF-2 by the National Weather Service, meaning maximum winds reached up to 125 mph. Fourteen agencies responded, including the State Fire Marshal’s office and multiple fire departments.

One survivor’s account captured the scale of the loss. “Your house is gone, and your shop’s gone, your boat’s gone, camper’s gone,” said area resident Rettmann, who had just moved to Montgomery County in February and had spent months renovating the property. “She spent all of her spare time painting, redoing everything. We laid new carpet, put up new blinds all throughout the house. All new appliances. Our plan was just to be here until we weren’t here, I guess.”

One person — a 71-year-old Sycamore man — was pulled from rubble by first responders and treated at a hospital in Neodesha. A family member confirmed he is expected to recover and plans to rebuild.

The Wider Storm System: Flooding, Rescues, and Overturned Train Cars

The EF-2 was only one part of a larger, violent storm system that rolled through Kansas over the weekend.

In Labette County, the town of Oswego saw empty train cars knocked completely off their railroad tracks. In the Kansas City area, flash flooding triggered a dozen water rescues by the Kansas City Fire Department overnight as rainfall rates reached one to two inches per hour across the region.

The storm snapped nine power poles along US Highway 75, cutting electricity across southeast Kansas and complicating overnight recovery efforts. The Columbus school district in neighboring Cherokee County…