The morning of April 26, 1991, seemed like any other for the town of Andover, Kansas. However, no one could predict the madness that would come in only a few hours. From April 25th- 27th, multiple super cells had been forming throughout the great plains area, causing many small tornadoes to form over central Kansas and Oklahoma. None came close to the destruction that the Andover tornado would cause.
At 5:49pm the tornado would first hit the ground east of Clearwater. Th
e national weather service began to issue tornado warnings for Wichita, Derby, Mulvane, and Haysville, instructing residents to stay indoors and seek shelter. The tornado would intensify to an F2-F3 as it hit Haysville at 6:20pm. Homes were heavily damaged. It would also go through southeastern Wichita, producing F3-F4 damage, completely leveling even well-built homes. Unfortunately four deaths would occur during this time. It would then strike the McConnell Air Force Base, which at the time had 10 B1-B bombers, two with nuclear warheads. The tornado missed these bombers but still destroyed nine facilities. Thankfully no one on the base lost their lives although many were injured.
The tornado would then cross US-54 and was headed straight for Andover. Unfortunately for the town, the tornado sirens malfunctioned so the police had to drive around warning people of the danger. One area they warned was the Golden Spurs mobile home park, where more than 2oo people lived. Most chose to evacuate however, 38 people chose to stay. The tornado then ripped through Southern Andover hitting the mobile home park directly. Of the 38 residents who chose to stay, 13 lost their lives and 17 more were hospitalized with serious injuries. The tornado then earned its F5 rating as it decimated more of the town. It would finally leave Andover where it would continue northeast, hitting the outskirts of Towanda. The beast finally dissipated west of El Dorado. Overall it would last 1 hour and 25 minutes, causing $300 million in damages ($671 million in 2024 USD), injuring 225 and killing 17.
Fast forward 21 years, and the town of Andover once again would suffer a direct hit. This tornado would take place on April 29th, 2022. Although it wasn’t as bad as the 1991 tornado, it still caused lots of destruction. The tornado would touch down in southeastern Sedgwick County. It would then continue northeast towards Andover. It would crash into the eastern part of town. It would destroy many homes and businesses, upturn many cars, and significantly damage the Andover YMCA. It would continue northeast before finally dissipating a few miles north of Andover. The tornado earned an Ef3 rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, and only three were injured.
These two tornadoes will go down in Kansas severe weather history and are two of the most infamous tornadoes to ever touch the ground.
