Tornado confirmed by spotters cuts path through Clinton, Missouri
No one was injured as a suspected tornado spun through Clinton Wednesday evening, damaging several trees and causing minor to moderate damage to a few homes, the Clinton Fire Department said on Facebook.
The tornado, confirmed by trained weather spotters, touched down and entered the southwest part of the city near the Missouri Department of Conservation office at 2010 S. Second Street, the fire department said. It then traveled northeast through the city of about 9,500 residents about 75 miles southeast of Kansas City.
Henry Elementary School and the nearby Clinton Intermediate School, in the 700 and 800 blocks of South Eighth Street, were in the path of the tornado and sustained minor to moderate damage to their roofs.
Because of the damage and electrical issues, the Clinton School District announced that the schools would be closed on Thursday for cleanup and to assess the safety of the buildings. Instead, students were scheduled for remote learning.
Although there were reports of fuel tanks being damaged and leaking at Champion Brands, a manufacturer of specialty lubricants, the fire department said those reports were inaccurate. However, a set of empty above-ground diesel storage tanks at a warehouse on North Fifth Street was blown over, the fire department said.
Several homes had damage from tree limbs, and a storage building behind American Building Products at 1804 S. Second Street was destroyed. Several power poles in the area were snapped at their bases.
The tornado came during what has been an active severe weather week in the region.
On Monday, an EF2 tornado touched down around 7:25 p.m. in southern Ottawa, Kansas, toppling power lines, damaging buildings and leaving much of the city without electricity. About a half hour earlier, an EF0 tornado had touched down near Quenemo, Kansas, west of Ottawa.
Then shortly before 8:20 p.m., a supercell thunderstorm that had produced the Ottawa tornado, strengthened and developed a tornado just east of Hillsdale Lake, which lifted, tossed and spun mobile homes at the Shady Acres R.V. Park in Hillsdale.
An EF1 tornado also touched down near Blue Mound in Linn County, Kansas, at about 8 p.m. It tracked to Worland in Bates County, Missouri, damaging trees and outbuildings, flipping over campers and destroying a home, where two people were injured. That tornado traveled nearly 24 miles over the course of 43 minutes.
Meanwhile, storm spotters and drone videos observed another tornado of unknown strength north of the larger tornado. That tornado touched down northeast of Blue Mound about 8:07 p.m. No damage, however, has been found so far.
Another round of storms is expected on Friday, which the National Weather Service says has the highest chance for severe weather of any event this week.
The storms are possible from mid-afternoon into the evening. The biggest threats are large hail and damaging winds, though a few tornadoes are also possible.
This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 10:53 AM.
