Man injured, widespread damage reported after EF2 tornado slams part of SE Kansas

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Kan. (KWCH) - A tornado-producing storm in southeast Kansas injured at least one person and caused extensive damage.

Montgomery County Emergency Preparedness Director Rick Whitson reported that the injury was to a man in Sycamore who received treatment at a hospital in Neodesha after first responders extricated him from rubble.

A family member shared that the injured man is a 71-year-old who is expected to recover and plans to rebuild. Part of his home’s roof was ripped off. He also lost two barns and had the roof ripped off of another outbuilding.

Most of the damage happened in the area between Sycamore and Independence, where several people lost their homes or barns.

Damaged homes and property

Attending Monday morning’s Montgomery County Commission meeting, the Montgomery County Chronicle reported that the tornadic storm impacted as many as 170 properties, including significant damage to several homes.

“We thought, ‘okay, we escaped a lot of damage,’ and then we saw our barn,” said Barry Beurskens, whose home was damaged in the storm. “And it just looked like a bomb went off in that barn. It exploded. My son’s got his pickup in that barn. It’s still covered with debris.”

One of the families who lost their home was Jon Rettmann, a veteran, and his wife.

“Well, your house is gone, and your shop’s gone, your boat’s gone, camper’s gone. So we waited about 20 minutes, it looked clear, and we came out here and the road all the way to Sycamore almost was covered with emergency vehicles,” Rettmann said.

The Rettmann’s just moved to Montgomery County in February and were working to make the property their forever home. Rettmann described the work he and his wife had done before the tornado struck.

“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,” Rettmann said.

The recovery is now beginning for everyone in the area.

“Living in a rural area definitely makes that easier, because people are neighbors, and everyone wants to help,” said Rick Whitson with Montgomery County Emergency Management.

Rettmann said he won’t let what happened this weekend stop him from calling Kansas home.

“Had guys here with skid steers first thing this morning before daybreak, ready to help in any way they could. Pretty much every neighbor within a five mile radius has stopped by and either introduced themselves because we haven’t met yet, or just checked on us,” Rettman said. “You couldn’t ask for a better community.”

Cleanup begins

The storm that heavily hit Sycamore, north of Independence, reportedly snapped nine power lines along U.S. 75, which led to outages throughout southeast Kansas. Evergy had crews in Sycamore throughout Sunday night and into Monday, repairing downed power lines.

The Red Cross is in the area as well, along with many area law enforcement agencies and fire departments.

Representatives from the National Weather Service in Wichita visited Sycamore to assess the damage and determine the tornado’s intensity level. It was determined to be an EF2 tornado.

At their meeting on Monday morning, Montgomery County commissioners signed a letter asking for a formal disaster declaration. An official declaration from the governor clears state resources to assist with the storm response and cleanup.

Beyond the Sycamore area, Sunday night’s destructive storm in southeast Kansas prompted the Columbus school district in neighboring Cherokee County to call off classes on Monday.