Accident blamed on bad weather

BARTLEY -- Bartley ambulance personnel transported a Benkelman woman to Cambridge Memorial Hospital Sunday evening, following an accident blamed on the heavy rain and hail that hit the area about 7 p.m.

At the same time, Red Willow County sheriff's department personnel were watching the skies, spotting tornadoes on the ground and funnels in the air.

Sheriff Gene Mahon said he, his officers and trained spotters saw four tornadoes on the ground at one time between Bartley and Indianola. "We sat on Main Street in Bartley and watched two (funnels) above us, but they didn't come down," Mahon said.

Reduced visibility because of rain and hail is blamed for the two-vehicle accident one block east of Main Street in Bartley during the storm. Mahon said a car driven by Travis Winters, 20, of Indianola, struck the rear end of a car driven by Terri Yrkoski, no age available, of Benkelman. Yrkoski was taken to the Cambridge hospital; hospital administration declined this morning to release a condition or status report on Yrkoski.

Mahon said officers stopped traffic near Timmerman's feedlot west of Indianola on U.S. Highway 6&34 for about 15-20 minutes, as the storm moved across the highway and traveled south. "Four or five more tornadoes formed as it crossed the highway," Mahon said.

The tornadoes seemed to stay in open fields, he said, and no property damages have been reported to his office.