Chapman, Kansas and Manhattan, Kansas Tornado

Twister Hits Too Close to Home!

My mothers boy friend/partner/best friend lives in Chapman, Kansas and my youngest daughter lives in Manhattan, Kansas. The night the tornado's came through Kansas was a scary one indeed. We were getting ready for bed when the sirens sounded in Junction City. I was in the shower with a head full of shampoo. My husband told me to finish up quickly and he went to turn on the radio. I finished, got dressed and turned on the bathroom radio. I was listening to our local station, KJCK ,and he was listening to the Manhattan station, KROCK. At about 10:30pm both stations announced a funnel cloud had been spotted near Hope, Kansas. This is where my mother lives. I called and woke her. She was unaware anything was happening. Then her sirens went off. She had two of her grandchildren spending quality time with her and she went to wake them and head to shelter. I called her again at about 11:00 and she was with her cellphone and my niece and nephew in her closet frantic because she could not get a call through to her friend. in Chapman. Unbeknown-st to us by then the twister had destroyed much of Chapman, Kansas and was heading into Manhattan. I told my mom to stay in hiding until 11:30 as that was when the alert was to end. No need to take any chances and she agreed. My little niece and nephew were so frightened due to an earlier event. A hale storm had gone through and downed many trees and power lines just months earlier when they were living in the town of Milford and a tree fell onto their trailer. No-one was hurt but that event has instilled fear in their little minds. My brother and sister-in-law, the kids parents, came to our house soon after hearing the siren go off. A trailer is no place to be during a heavy storm of this magnitude. My niece and nephew seemed relived to know their mommy and daddy were at my house with a basement to go to and not in their trailer home. We waited and watched together from 11:00 until just after midnight.