21 minutes, 12.5 miles, 300 to 400 buildings: Tracking path, damage of EF-3 tornado

A map released Saturday afternoon shows the route of an EF-3 tornado that touched down in Sedgwick County then barreled into Butler County on Friday night.

Roughly 1,074 buildings were in its path, and at least 300 to 400 buildings were destroyed, said Andover fire chief Chad Russell.

Here is what we know about the tornado so far:

• Preliminary findings are that the tornado first touched down at 8:10 p.m. around South 127th Street East and East 39th Street South, which is in rural Sedgwick County.
• It moved to the northeast, causing “very significant damage” with the “most critical injuries” in a rural area before moving on to damage some homes in a sliver of Wichita and then entering Butler County, according to Andover fire chief Chad Russell.
• The most extensive damage was in the Andover area. The tornado moved northeast before ending at 8:31 p.m. near Southwest 30th Street and Southwest Indianola, which is just to the southeast of Benton.

• It traveled 12.75 miles and was on the ground for roughly 21 minutes. National Weather Service meteorologist Chance Hayes said it is pretty typical of a tornado that strong to last that long and go that far.
• The tornado was an EF-3, with estimated wind speeds of 136 to 165 mph.
• Four people were injured in Andover: two firefighters responding to the call, one person hurt during the tornado damage and another injured while trying to evacuate. All of them were adults and the injuries were minor. Russell said Sedgwick County had two people with serious injuries and a couple with minor injuries.

Russell said it will take years to recover.

“The city of Andover will be affected by this for years,” he said. “We still have scars from 1991 (EF-5 tornado). I’m so thankful this tornado was not as bad as that, but we will literally be doing this for years.”

This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 9:01 PM.