Storm teams with the National Weather Service spent much of Wednesday studying storm damage in Southern Missouri.
By Michele Skalicky (Springfield, Mo.)
They’ve determined that it was an EF-2 tornado that moved through the Branson and Kimberling city areas, causing numerous injuries and damaging several buildings, including some of the tourist town’s famous theaters.
Ryan Kardell is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Springfield.
“They rated the damage points there and along that track is an EF-2. The survey team also did go visit Pittsburg, Kansas. At the very beginning of where the damage started to occur of the northern storm that eventually went up through Buffalo, but started off in far eastern Kansas, they determined out there that that was a straight-line wind event of 100-120 miles per hour in Pittsburg, Kansas,” Kardell said.
Storm teams are still trying to determine if the storm in Dallas County near Buffalo that caused a death, several injuries and widespread damage was a tornado or straight-line winds.
In all, three people were killed in Southern Missouri when severe storms moved through early Wednesday.