A tornado cut a miles-long path through rural northeastern Wyoming, destroying two homes and several barns and spawning damaging hail, officials said Tuesday. There were no reports of injuries.
The twister touched down Monday night and demolished a ranch house and a mobile home and damaged a third residence near the community of Farrall, about 12 miles northeast of Sundance, Crook County Homeland Security Coordinator Jim Pridgeon said. Many barns and other farm buildings were left in ruins.
Sundance is about 60 miles northwest of Rapid City, S.D.
He said that the twister coursed for 22 miles through the area, but it wasn't immediately clear if it was on the ground the entire time. The Weather Service has not yet determined its size and has sent an investigator to assess the damage.
Large hail spawned by the storm broke home and car windows and damaged roofs in Hulett, said Sam Waugh, the town's emergency manager.
"We've got extensive damage," Waugh said. He added there were even a few reports of hail penetrating through the roofs of buildings.
Volunteers were assessing damage, but Pridgeon said it mainly passed through unpopulated, rural terrain. Pridgeon said the tornado disturbed 4,600 acres of land.
"From the photographs I've seen ... this (tornado) was huge," he said.
About five miles of roads in the Cook Lake area of Black Hills National Forest were covered with downed trees, forester Jeanette Timm said. The agency expects to have the roads cleared in the next two days.
Campers at Cook Lake weren't injured, and the road was open to allow them to leave, Timm said. No new campers were being allowed into the area until the Forest Service can assess possible risks.