Twisters spotted in heavy rainfall

Clouds circling over the Brush home at Southwest High School on Thursday afternoon threatened the neighborhood between McCook and Indianola, but dumped up to 5 inches of rain farther east in the Bartley area. The Bureau of Reclamation office in McCook reported .18 of an inch of rain in McCook, .05 at Swanson Lake and .30 at Enders. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

Tornado sirens wailed over McCook homes and businesses in the middle of the afternoon Thursday, after two tornadoes were reported in the area of Valmont Industries about 3:15 p.m.

Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon said this morning he ordered the sounding of the city's sirens after the reports.

He did not see any tornadoes in the Valmont area, he said, "but they could have been hidden in the heavy rain."

Mahon said this morning he and Lt. Alan Kotschwar watched a tornado touch down momentarily north of Bartley between 4 and 4:30 p.m., and heard a report of another tornado seven miles south of Bartley.

Heavy rains in the Bartley area washed out roads, at Drive 720 and Road 405 and Highway 6-34 and Road 405.

Hail up to 1 1/2 inches in size was reported six miles south-southeast of Indianola.

A tornado was reported one mile south of Oberlin at 3:31 p.m., and another tornado and three-quarter-inch hail were reported five to six miles east of Oberlin at the same time.

In Kansas, in Rawlins County, trained spotters reported three-quarter-inch hail in the Herndon area.

Back in Nebraska, about 6 p.m., spotters and members of the public reported hail up to one inch south of Holbrook and north of Edison.

Spotters and law enforcement officers in Hitchcock County reported up to 2-inch hail near Palisade and Hamlet about 6:30 p.m.