First responders prevented injuries after Kansas tornado sirens failed, official says

The first responders who warned Selden residents after sirens failed during Monday’s tornado saved lives, an official said Tuesday.

A power outage caused the city’s sirens to fail just moments before the tornado hit town. Sheridan County Fire Department Capt. Micah Goscha and two other volunteer firefighters acted as the backup warning, driving around town in two fire trucks and using the PA system and sirens to tell people to take shelter.

Sheridan County officials reported the tornado hit around 6:30 p.m. Monday, tearing off roofs, crumbling the stone and brick walls of downtown buildings, uprooting trees and crushing at least one farm silo. It damaged most of the buildings in the town of 200-plus people in northwest Kansas.

The only reported injury was minor, and involved a volunteer firefighter who was out warning people to take cover. Goscha was in a fire truck near downtown when something hit the vehicle. It broke the back window and a side window, causing minor injuries.

SCFD training chief Steve Hirsch said the sheriff’s office had a couple of vehicles on the road doing the same thing.

“I would credit that with having no injuries and no fatalities in this community,” he said. “The damage is not Greensburg damage, but it is pretty serious. There are homes that are destroyed, there are buildings that are destroyed.”

Monday’s twister touched all parts of the town, sometimes destroying one building and then leaving another seemingly untouched.

“It’s a little hard to understand how that happens,” he said.

City Clerk Jackie Neff said she saw one Quonset hut completely destroyed, but the contents were still in place “like nothing happened to them.”

There were between 100 to 140 homes, businesses and buildings housing farming equipment damaged, she said, so most residents were impacted. Some of the damage was as minor as roof shingles blown off by the powerful winds.

Sheridan County Sheriff Brandon Carver said 38 properties in and around town suffered major damage from the storm, while another 84 suffered minor damage.

Officials said they expect the town to bounce back quickly thanks to a large outpouring of people wanting to help.

Response to the tornado

The tornado was caught on video by storm chasers. One person who works for a farmer even took a video as the tornado destroyed the pickup truck he was in with others, Neff said.

Debris was strewn throughout town when people woke up Tuesday morning.

Hirsch said Midwest Energy restored power quickly, making it easier to use machinery for cleanup.

And many hands have lightened all that work.

Neff, while on the phone with The Eagle, said a loader with a bucket full of tree limbs was going by on the town’s main road. By midday, the downtown area looked much better than it did that morning, she said.

“It’s just amazing the people that have showed up,” she said. “It’s small town America at its best.”

But some fixes — like the addition on the Paul’s Furniture building in downtown that was destroyed — won’t happen in a day.

Farmers brought their tractors to town to help, and Hoxie Feedyard supplied dump trucks and trucks with trailers as well, she said. And volunteers have come from around the area to help with cleanup.

People’s State Bank and Taylor Implement also provided lunch Tuesday to help refuel the workers.

“I might just sit down tonight and cry just because of the outpouring,” she said.

The help has caused one problem.

“This is the first time we’ve really had too many major problems with parking in Selden for a while,” Hirsch said. ”This town is going to bounce back relatively well, I think.”

Anyone wanting to contribute can send items or monetary donations to City of Selden at P.O. Box 54 in Selden, KS 67757.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 3:02 PM.