25 March 2024
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The storm that damaged the Garden City area did not cause any injuries or fatalities, according to the police department. However, it damaged transmission lines, causing outages for over 1,000 customers in the area for two hours on Sunday.
KSN News spoke with people who spotted funnels and the potential tornado in the area Sunday.
They said seeing funnels and a potential tornado nearby was a strange experience.
One of them, a resident of the south side of Garden City, said the weather quickly took a wrong turn.
It was mid-afternoon when Dan Dreiling started to hear tornado sirens.
“I looked outside. I’m standing in front of the dining room windows, kinda looking at this view,” Dreiling said.
Then, an unusual sight.
“All of a sudden, I see tumbleweeds falling down from the sky,” Dreiling said.
He spotted a funnel not more than a quarter-mile from his home. What he remembers most is the noise.
“People say, ‘Oh, it sounded like a freight train or a train,'” Dreiling said. “Well, that’s exactly what it sounded like.”
About 6 miles west in Holcomb, resident Jayson Lambert said he heard the blare of sirens and went outside to see what was happening for himself.
“I look, like, south from my house, and then, I just see that little, that funnel cloud or whatever it was just come down,” Lambert said.
It was the first of several that he spotted.
“I saw them, and then, yeah, I was kind of worried,” Lambert said. “I was just hoping, kind of praying it didn’t turn into anything bigger.”
Garden City officials are asking people who have damage to bring items to the curb, and city works crews will start picking up Monday through the end of the week.