A spring-like storm that hit without warning wreaked havoc in Humboldt Thursday night and drenched Iola with more than 4 inches of rain.
Humboldt’s business district sustained heavy damage from gale-force winds and heavy rains. Hundreds of limbs and some trees were felled.
While no official classification has been made that the storm contained a tornado, radar images did show a hook in the clouds — precursor of a tornado — and the swirling clouds appeared to have a circular pattern. In the northwest part of town the wind roared from the west and northwest; in the east part from the south.
