pimblr.com

Severe storms that hit Central Nebraska Thursday night left a wide path of damage.
Also, flood warnings have been issued as the result of the heavy rains from the storm.
The National Weather Service in Hastings sent a storm survey team to survey the damage from one of two tornadoes in the Kearney area.
According to the weather service, the tornado surveyed initially touched down in Phelps County approximately four miles south of Odessa around 5:20 p.m. The tornado damaged a farmstead approximately one mile east of the Funk Odessa Road. Outbuildings and silos sustained the most damage. The tornado was the strongest at this initial point and was rated an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
The weather service survey team reported that the tornado "skipped" along as it tracked to the east-northeast into Kearney County and then into Buffalo County.
"The tornado weakened as it moved to the east-northeast and damaged pipes and billboard signs along Interstate 80," the team’s report says. "The tornado had a path length of 14 miles, a path width of 100 yards and had an overall rating of EF2. There were no deaths or injuries from this tornado."
The weather service said a second tornado struck the city of Kearney.
"Multiple tornadoes touched down across south Central Nebraska and north central Kansas with preliminary reports of these additional tornadoes located in Hall, Osborne, Hamilton, Thayer, Jewell, Mitchell and Rooks counties," the weather service said.
Jon Rosenlund, Grand Island/Hall County emergency management director, said the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for portions of Hall County shortly before 6 p.m.
He said it was the same storm system that caused damage to areas of eastern Hall County.
Rosenlund said no injuries or fatalities were reported.
He said Hall County received various reports of rotation, wall clouds, heavy rains and pea- to quarter-size hail. There was minor street flooding, and one overpass was blocked in Grand Island. Also, a tree over a county road west of the city was observed.

theindependent.com

CHARLESTON, W.VA. –Hillary Rodham Clinton romped to victory Tuesday in the West Virginia primary, burying Barack Obama in a landslide that seemed unlikely to stop his steady march to the Democratic nomination.
Running in a state tailored to her strengths — with a large turnout of white, rural and working-class voters — Clinton posted one of her biggest winning margins. With nearly all of the vote counted, she was leading Obama 67% to 26%.
Speaking to supporters at Charleston’s downtown convention center, Clinton made clear her intention to keep running, even as she praised Obama.
“There are some who wanted to cut this race short,” she said. “They say, ‘Give up, it’s too hard, the mountain is too high.’ But here in West Virginia, you know a thing or two about rough roads to the top of the mountain. . . . I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard.”
Obama, who conceded even before the polls closed, left a voicemail message congratulating the New York senator. He campaigned Tuesday in Missouri, a fall battleground, and focused on the presumptive GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, saying he promised four more years of President Bush’s policies.
There were 28 delegates at stake in West Virginia, too few to shake up the race even if Clinton won them all. Under the party’s allocation system, Clinton won 20 delegates to Obama’s eight, according to the Associated Press.
But Clinton is no longer resting her candidacy on the delegate count. She hopes to persuade party leaders, who hold the balance of power, that she would be the more electable candidate against McCain, based on her support among white, blue-collar voters who have not embraced Obama’s candidacy in the same way as black, more affluent and better-educated voters.

latimes.com