Tornado, Hail, Severe Storm Hit Area
Bushnell, Oliver Lake, Kimball Area Among Hard-Hit Areas On Monday Night
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Bridget Lewis
Bridget Lewis of Tuscon, Ariz., photographed Monday night's tornado as it touched down south of Kimball. She caught the image at High Point RV Park, where she is living in an RV while working as a traveling nurse at Kimball Health Services. Reports of hail size varied during the severe storm, but three miles south of Kimball on Airport Road, Randy Sweley gathered up the 3-inch hail stone, above, set next to a large pop cup. He also was fairly close to the tornado.
The Bushnell and Oliver Lake areas were hit especially hard by the severe storm Monday night that pounded the Kimball area.
A visitor to Oliver from New Mexico described her experience.
Still shaken from the experience the previous night, the visitor, who identified herself as Kaitlynn, said, "It was scary."
Road-tripping from New Mexico to Idaho, they stopped at Oliver just minutes before the hail began. She recalled saying, "That looks like a pretty bad thunderstorm. Hopefully, it goes the other way."
She and her child spent the duration of the storm hunkered down in the Oliver Lake outdoor bathrooms. She said she was happy to be out of the car because "I thought my windshield was going to break."
She said the Kimball County Sheriff's Office came through the park and warned everyone that hail, winds and a tornado were possible.
Randy Sweley
Usually, Kaitlynn camps in her tent but not Monday night. They slept in the car, fearing the storm might return.
No storm-related injuries were reported, but storm damage was evident across the area.
At Oliver, damages included a camper that wind blew upside down.
Bushnell experienced large hail. Many vehicles there had windows smashed, and a row of six powerlines was torn down by a tornado south of town near Junior and Lorri Norberg's property.
A long rope-like tornado touched down near the airport, and Kimball and surrounding areas experienced a variety of hail sizes doing damage to vehicles, homes and buildings.
