At least six unconfirmed tornadoes touched down late Wednesday morning in the Kansas City area, according to authorities, but only minor damage and no injuries were reported.
It was the second consecutive day of severe weather across the state, which included a storm Tuesday that killed two people in Stafford County.
One tornado Wednesday was reported in Louisburg about 10:50 a.m., Miami County Undersheriff Wayne Minckley said. He said officers saw the twister lift a pickup, spin it and drop it to the ground. The driver escaped with minor injuries as the storm moved north toward downtown Kansas City, Mo.
Authorities in Stafford County said Sharon Gleason pulled her Ford Explorer off U.S. 281 north of St. John to seek shelter from the storm about 5 p.m. Tuesday. She parked under a large cottonwood tree next to a farmstead's driveway, Stafford County Sheriff Jeff Parr said.
A tornado struck the farmstead, uprooting the cottonwood and smashing it into the Explorer. Gleason, 56, and her 17-year-old son, Jeffrey, were killed.
Her daughter, 21-year-old Kristin, was seriously injured. She is in fair condition at a Great Bend hospital.
"It was a very large cottonwood," Parr said. "The two that were killed were in the front seat of the Explorer."
The tornado was one of 10 confirmed twisters that touched down in central and western Kansas on Tuesday, said Larry Ruthi, meteorologist in charge of the Dodge City branch of the National Weather Service.
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