RUSSELL — Tornado or straight-line winds? That was the question residents of Russell County debated Monday morning in the wake of a Sunday storm that tore through the county from Waldo to Bunker Hill before heading south into the Great Bend area.

Representatives of the National Weather Service were expected to be in Russell on Monday to inspect the damage and determine a cause.

“I know that has been a topic of contention here for the last 12 hours,” Russell County Sheriff Fred Whitman said.

“I’ve had citizens describe to me a funnel; others say it was a straight-line wind. I don’t know that it could be a bit of both.”

Two travelers received minor injuries after their vehicles overturned along Interstate 70 near Bunker Hill. They were taken to Russell Regional Hospital.

In total, three trailer-tractor rigs and two campers pulled by pickup trucks were overturned by winds with gusts approaching 80 miles per hour, said Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Tod Hileman. 

Hileman, who did not work the accidents but talked with the trooper who did, said the injured motorists were still on the interstate headed in opposite directions when they were caught in the storm. Other drivers had pulled to the side of the road and stopped because of rain.

The trooper said one driver told KHP that the wind picked up his truck and camper and turned them sideways and, like in World Weight Wrestling, “body slammed” them to the ground hard enough to break the hitch.

Sheriff Whitman said his office had seven deputies in the field, including on the interstate to help with traffic. 

He said the east bound lane was closed briefly before being reopened. It took more than two hours to clear the west bound lane. 

The deputies were called out about 5 p.m., shortly before the weather service issued a tornado warning for Russell County. Whitman said the storm came from the northwest and moved south-southeast, doing most of its damage to the Waldo and Bunker Hill communities and rural farmsteads. He had not heard of any injuries by Monday morning beyond those on the interstate.

Keith Haberer, emergency management director for Russell and Ellsworth counties, was on the road Monday morning to inspect the damage.

Windows, roofs and tree limbs were most affected, he said. Power poles and other infrastructure used by area electric cooperatives also were damaged.

“For what we had come through — you’re actually talking to a person who has no complaints,” Whitman said.