Eureka Tornado: Tennis Ball-Sized Hail, Widespread Damage In Greenwood County, Kansas

UPDATE : 12:13 a.m. EDT - According to the latest report, five people were injured, including one in critical condition, after a deadly tornado hit Eureka, Kansas, on Tuesday.

The nature of the injuries or where the victims are admitted are not known. Search and rescue teams were deployed in the area, as most of Greenwood County grapple with widespread power outages. Structural damage reportedly cover a 100-block radius.

Original story:

Widespread structural damage and power outages were reported as a tornado touched down in Eureka, Greenwood County, Kansas, on Tuesday.

A tornado warning was issued for Eureka – which took a “direct hit” from the tornado – by the National Weather Service at 7 p.m. local time (8 p.m. EDT). While the warning was canceled around 7:57 p.m. local time (8:57 p.m. EDT), the thunderstorm warning remained in effect.

Greenwood County Sheriff's deputy told CBS affiliate KWCH that the tornado went "straight through the center of town” in Eureka and as a result, the area incurred considerable structural damage. Among the damages were downed power lines, trees apart from toppled residential homes and businesses. There were reports of a local tire store completely collapsing under the impact of the storm.

Local residents took to social media to post pictures of the aftermath of the tornado in Eureka:

There were reports of one injury. More details about the injured individual were not immediately available.

The tornado continued to move east of Eureka and began impacting areas east of Wichita and Butler County. The biggest concern for residents was the fact that the tornado was accompanied by a hailstorm, bringing with it hailstones of more than one inch in diameter. At the same time, tennis-ball-sized hail was reported in El Dorado, Kansas.

Residents in the area took photos of the hailstones and posted them on Twitter.

Due to disruption of power lines, more than 4,000 people in Greenwood County were reportedly without electricity. All of them were customers of Westar Energy. It was not clear how many customers of Lyon-Coffey were impacted.

The Greenwood County’s radio system also went offline as a result of the tornado, making it difficult to access local reports of damages in the area.

A shelter for tornado-affected residents was set up at the Eureka Methodist Church and an equipment staging area was set up at Eureka Downs, 100 N. Jefferson. First responders were ordered to report to the Eureka Fire Department for check-in and assignments.

Volunteers, meanwhile, were advised by the Greenwood County Emergency Management to stay away from the tornado-torn area because it was not safe due to the downed power lines.

According to local radio station KVOE, Tuesday’s tornado followed a similar path as that of the EF-2 tornado that hit the town on July 7, 2016. At the time, the storm entered the city near the Eureka Golf Course and narrowly missed Greenwood County Hospital and the Eureka school campus.