Updates..
6:30 p.m.
A National Weather Service official says a tornado has hit Roseland, a rural town of fewer than 250 people about eight miles southwest of Hastings, damaging between 10 and 15 homes.
Angela Pfannkuch (FAHN-cue), a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hastings, says the tornado hit at 4:22 p.m. Wednesday. She said while her office was aware that homes had been damaged, she did not know the extent of the damage. Pfannkuch said her office was not aware of any injuries.
Dawna Whitcomb with the Adams County Emergency Management said her office was busy coordinating with the American Red Cross to help any households displaced by the tornado.
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6:20 p.m.
The terminal at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City had to be evacuated as strong storms that produced tornadoes approached the area.
Airport spokeswoman Karen Carney says several hundred people were moved into a tunnel shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday. Airport security was allowed to leave about 5:40 p.m. Passengers were allowed to return to the terminal about 10 minutes later.
Carney says flight delays are expected because of the storms and lightning in the area and passengers on flights that arrived during the storm were experiencing delays in getting their luggage.
She said that as of shortly after 6 p.m. the airlines were working to resume flights.
CEMENT, Okla. (KRON) – Tornadoes touched down in southwest Oklahoma and southern Nebraska on Wednesday, a day forecasters had said could see active weather.
National Weather Service meteorologist Angela Pfannkuch said the rural town of Roseland, Nebraska, was hit at 4:22 p.m. Wednesday. No injuries had been reported to emergency management personnel by 5 p.m., officials said, and it wasn’t yet known whether homes and buildings were damaged.
And in southwestern Oklahoma, a weak tornado touched down after 3 p.m., according to weather service meteorologist Michael Scotten.
“We’ve had at least one confirmed tornado, for sure,” he said, adding no one was hurt or injured. “It’s mainly hit open areas out there.” The Chickasha school district, which was in the path of the tornado, kept its students after school as a precaution, he said.
It’s too early to tell how many storms could flare up or in which region, according to Richard Thompson at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, noting that the storms will likely be widely spaced apart.
“It’s possible the hail at the very biggest could be tennis ball- or baseball-sized but that would be very isolated,” Thompson said.
A swath of the Great Plains is under a tornado watch until 9 p.m. Wednesday, including parts of North Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Scotten also said the threat of weak tornadoes and hail was possible into Wednesday night.
“This is the first of potentially several days of a severe weather risk,” Thompson said. “There could be some pretty heavy rain overnight and eventually flooding could be a concern.”
Areas of central Oklahoma saw heavy rainfall and some flooding overnight and early Wednesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Kurtz said. Nearly 4 inches of rain fell in Norman, where the Oklahoma Department of Transportation shut down several on-ramps to Interstate 35. The ramps re-opened early Wednesday afternoon.
“People just really need to stay weather aware, have a plan and understand that severe storms are possible across portions of the southern plains almost daily through Saturday,” Kurtz said.