DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Latest on severe weather in the Plains (all times local):
8:40 p.m.
The National Weather Service says a tornado has touched down in central Iowa.
Officials at the National Weather Service in Des Moines confirmed a small, rope tornado touched down west of Guthrie Center a little after 8 p.m. Monday. The twister has not hit any populated areas and there are no reports of damage or injuries.
Guthrie Center is about 60 miles west of Des Moines.
7:50 p.m.
The National Weather Service says a tornado that swept through southern Nebraska caused some damage to a rural high school.
Cindy Fay, with the National Weather Service in Hastings, says there were three confirmed tornadoes that touched down Monday afternoon near the cities of Fairfield and Clay Center.
Sandra Nejezchleb, the ambulance captain at the Fairfield Fire Department, says no students were injured at Sandy Creek High School in rural Fairfield, but windows of school vans and other vehicles were busted out in the parking lot, there was damage to a school porch awning and an irrigation pivot overturned about a mile south.
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7:30 p.m.
Two people have been killed by strong tornadoes that swept across portions of southern Oklahoma.
Johnston County Sheriff’s Sgt. Stacey Pulley says a man died Monday near the town of Connerville. A storm earlier in the day killed a man in a home near Wynnewood.
The Storm Prediction Center had said the Plains and Arkansas.
Some of Monday’s weather has been so bad that forecasters declared a “tornado emergency” for the towns of Roff and Hickory, which were in the path of a storm.
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6 p.m.
An emergency manager says a man was killed when a large tornado tore through a home at Wynnewood, Oklahoma.
The twister was among a number of violent storms that raked the Plains on Monday. The Storm Prediction Center said portions of the Plains and the Ozarks faced a “substantial tornado risk” into Monday night.
The emergency director in Garvin County, Oklahoma, Bud Ramming, said a man believed to be in his late 70s was found dead in a home. The twister prompted forecasters to issue a “tornado emergency” for communities east of Wynnewood, noting the storm could be particularly violent.
Officials in other communities said a number of homes were damaged by tornadoes.
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5:20 p.m.
The National Weather Service says a tornado briefly touched down on the southeast edge of Lincoln, Nebraska.
There were no reports of damage or injuries from the tornado spotted Monday afternoon.
Dave Fobert, with the National Weather Service in Omaha, confirmed the tornado touched down briefly and the storm system still has the potential to produce more twisters.
The Weather Service also says baseball-sized hail is falling in the area.
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5 p.m.
The National Weather Service says a tornado bearing down on two communities in southern Oklahoma could inflict “catastrophic” damage.
Forecasters issued a tornado emergency for the small towns of Roff and Hickory, which are near Sulphur in southern Oklahoma. It warned that residents of the towns were “in a life-threatening situation.”
Television station video showed a large tornado on the ground about 70 miles south of Oklahoma City. The area is largely rural, but a number of small towns dot the landscape. Roff has a population of 725; Hickory’s is 71.
An early storm damaged some buildings near Wynnewood, including a home and a barn.
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4:45 p.m.
A tornado described by weather forecasters as “large and extremely dangerous” cut a path through the Oklahoma landscape. There were no immediate reports of injuries after the twister cut through a mostly rural area.
The Storm Prediction Center had warned that a “substantial tornado risk” could develop Monday in portions of the Southern Plains and the Ozarks. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed a five-mile section of Interstate 35 between Oklahoma City and Dallas as the storm approached.
Meteorologists said twisters with wind speeds above 111 mph were possible from eastern Oklahoma to central Arkansas. Hail 2 inches or more in diameter is possible from eastern Texas to southeastern Kansas.
About 41 million people from Houston to Sioux City, Iowa, are at risk for some type of stormy weather.