A damaging tornado struck the Wichita, KS area during the 10 o'clock hour on the evening of Saturday, April 14th, 2012.
The tornado approached the city from the Southwest and tracked Northeast across the Southern and Southeastern part of town. The tornado then tracked on to the Northeast toward Andover and El Dorado.
The following photo was taken by Jenn Henley at an unknown location to the Southwest of Wichita before the tornado entered town:
Look closely during the lightning flashes in the following video and you can see the large "wedge" tornado as it later advanced across southeast Wichita. You can also see numerous power flashes (Note: Wichita portion of the video ends at about 2:15 in, then cuts to another storm earlier in the day):
I took a quick screen grab from the above video. Even though its a bit grainy, you can clearly see a large, "wedge" tornado:
Here is another video from the chase group Basehunters, with a screen grab below the video (Note: video of Wichita area tornado ends about 1 minute in, then they cut to storms from earlier in the day in other locations):
The photo below shows the tornado as it approached the El Dorado / El Dorado Lake area to the Northeast of Wichita:
Photo by Jacob Oliver
So far, the heaviest damage appears to be concentrated in the Oaklawn area of southeast Wichita, especially from 47th to 55th South near Clifton Ave.
This is by no means meant to suggest that this was the only area with heavy damage, but it is certainly where the efforts of rescue and recovery crews were focused immediately following the event.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has released preliminary survey information and have rated the tornado EF-3 intensity, with the heaviest damage from eastern sections of Oaklawn to the West side of McConnell AFB. EF-3 tornadoes contain winds of 136-165 mph.
The damage-based track map is below:
There were reportedly 70-80 victims at the Pinaire Mobile Home Park in southeast Wichita (the extent of their injuries was not detailed). The following photo shows a gas main that burst into flames shortly after the tornado hit the mobile home park (via AP):
...and another photo of the destruction at the mobile home park (also via AP):
The following photos of the Pinaire Mobile Home Park courtesy KWCH:
Here are a couple of aerial views of the damage in and around Pinaire Park, also via KWCH-TV:
Damage to a QuikTrip at Pawnee and Rock Rd. in Southeast Wichita:
At Harry and Webb Road, a tree was uprooted from a concrete container and a tree limb was driven into the exterior wall of a Walgreen's store:
Below are some additional damage photos. Location and credit given below each when available:
Unknown location in Wichita - via Jenny Young/twitter
Hawker Beechcraft - via KFDI News
Hawker Beechcraft - via KFDI News
Unknown location in SE Wichita - via KFDI News
East Oaklawn - Jeremy Shapel
Pinaire Mobile Home Park - via Wichita Eagle
Spirit AeroSystems - via Wichita Eagle
Spirit AeroSystems - via Wichita Eagle
You can see more photos of the damage at Spirit AeroSystems by visiting their flickr page here.
East Wichita - Becky Elliot via twitter
East Wichita - Becky Elliot via twitter
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