The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado touched down near Platner on Tuesday evening, damaging several structures and destroying a shed.
Officials said Tuesday’s supercell thunderstorm actually produced “several tornadoes,” although most were brief. The first three — one in northeastern Adams County and two near Akron — caused no damage.
The stronger EF1 tornado developed at about 6:50 p.m. as the storm moved toward Platner.
A second EF1 tornado was confirmed near the intersection of Washington County Road 46 and County Road AAA as the storm moved to the Yuma County line. That tornado also caused some structural damage, according to the report from the weather service.
On Wednesday, residents were evaluating damage to their property, with school officials for Otis School District concerned about the roof of their school building — between each of the tornado touchdowns.
“We are very concerned about it leaking,” said Kendra Anderson, superintendent of the Otis School District on Wednesday. “It lifted up and peeled back. It’s raised about 2 feet. We know we can’t just get it fixed quickly, so we’re trying to figure out how to protect the inside of the building.”
The Enhanced F-scale rating ranks tornadoes from 0 to 5 with EF1 tornadoes typically recording about 86 to 110 mph winds.
Besides the tornado damage, the weather service report also recorded a 6-mile stretch of hail that damaged or destroyed “thousands of acres of wheat,” windows, farm buildings and house siding.
