Forecasters said Saturday that at least a dozen tornadoes spun across western and central Kansas a day earlier, destroying numerous homes, downing trees and injuring several people.
The National Weather Service in Dodge City said there were at least 10 twisters that touched down in central Kansas, while the Goodland office reported seven or eight in the western part of the state.
At least four people were hurt in Stafford County, including one person who was taken to a Wichita hospital with serious injuries, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General's Department.
Meanwhile in Colorado, where a large tornado devastated the northern farm town of Windsor, residents were expected to return to their homes in an area of town that officials had earlier deemed unsafe following Thursday's twister.
Natural gas leaks and the threat of explosions had kept hundreds of residents from their homes on Friday.
Officials were meeting with residents to plan their return, incident management team spokesman Dan Hatlestad said. "With no power, it may be an unpleasant place to live, but it's up to the homeowners," Hatlestad said.
The tornado, with wind speeds between 111 mph to 165 mph, tore through a 35-mile stretch of northern Colorado, killing one person and injuring dozens. It tipped 15 rail cars off the tracks in Windsor, about 70 miles north of Denver.
In Kansas, the weather service sent out survey teams Saturday morning to determine the size of the twisters. Ed Berry, science operations officer in the Dodge City office, said many of the twisters appear to be significant in size.
In Stafford County, at least seven homes suffered major damage, along with damage to several other structures, power lines and trees, Watson said Saturday.
A man in Gove County suffered minor injuries after his car was blown across Interstate 70 into a ditch, according to George Lies, emergency management director for Logan and Gove Counties.
Lies said two tornadoes hit in Gove County, with at least a dozen homes sustaining major damage.
One twister was on the ground south of Quinter, went back into the clouds as it went over the town, then dropped back down on the other side, damaging four rural houses.
Portions of Kansas also have been hit hard by flooding, with as much as 8 inches of rain falling in a 48-hour period, according to Chris Foltz, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Goodland.
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