Tornadoes Devastate Kansas, Community Rallies

0:00It's April 20th, I'm Corey with The Story, and this is Kansas News Today, your AI-powered local news. Nine tornadoes ripped through the region last week, with five slamming eastern Kansas and injuring six folks. The big ones were two EF-2 twisters that hit Ottawa and Hillsdale hard, wiping out a motel, flipping boats and RVs, and damaging dozens of homes. Damage stretched to Highland Cemetery in Ottawa, where headstones got cracked and toppled, and debris from miles away littered the plots. A week on, trees and wreckage are still everywhere, turning a place of peace into a cleanup zone. Locals like Ruby Powell rushed to check her family's graves and found them spared, but she's heartbroken for others losing those precious markers. She and her kids started clearing plots and even pitched in to help neighbors, showing that real community kindness in the chaos. Over in Hillsdale, Logan Davis watched his camper get totaled and his 15-year-old car dented bad. He set on rebuilding the car, keeping that dent as a tornado scar to never forget.

1:02Powers back full strength in Ottawa, with crews hauling trees and limbs daily. Hillsdale folks hold off a major cleanup, waiting for insurance to sort dumpsters and liability, but spirits stay strong as they rebuild step by.