By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

Assessment teams were out this morning in the wake of a series of storms that swept through northwest Kansas, dumping tornadoes, hail and heavy rains.

Meanwhile, forecasters already are predicting another round of storms for tonight, complete with the threat of tornadoes, hail and an increased risk for flooding on already saturated ground.

"We're looking at putting out a flood watch in the next couple hours," said Goodland National Weather Service meteorologist Sarah Johnson. The flood advisory likely would cover all of the Kansas counties in the Goodland forecast area -- much of northwest Kansas.

The extent of the damage from Thursday's storms remains uncertain, but along the way, a number of homes were either destroyed or damaged in Gove, Sheridan, Decatur and Trego counties, either from twisters or straight-line winds.

At least two people suffered minor injuries Thursday evening when the camper they were in at the KOA campground on the south edge of WaKeeney was rolled by strong winds.

"My wife and I were getting ready to go to the storm shelter when it hit, and it blew us out of the camper," said Jerry Wolf, Bulls Gap, Tenn. "I was left out there on the ground."

They were taken by ambulance to the Trego County-Lemke Memorial Hospital where they were treated for cuts and abrasions, according to Kenny Roy, assistant director of the Trego County Ambulance Service. Wolf also said he had a separated shoulder.

In addition to determining the extent of the damage, assessment teams also will have to make a count of the number of tornadoes that might have touched down Thursday.

The numbers vary, with the Storm Prediction Center reporting 24 tornadoes in northwest Kansas. Johnson, however, suggested there only might have been nine in the Goodland forecast area.

County emergency management directors in Sheridan and Decatur counties, however, each reported seeing at least nine tornadoes.

That's where the heaviest damage appears to be centered, although there were significant damage reports in Gove County as well.

A late-morning check of eastern Gove County this morning by emergency director George "Pappy" Lies found more damage that he had been made aware of.

In fact, three homes, one of which was unoccupied, sustained significant damage, he said.

"They had a direct hit by a very violent storm," he said late this morning.

Cottonwood trees 3 and 4 feet in diameter, he said, were uprooted.

Flooding is causing some problems in making damage assessments in Decatur County, according to emergency director Patti Skubal.

She was out this morning to look at what was damaged but had problems making it into some remote areas of the county because of the high water.

"We're pretty sure we've located everybody," she said this morning as she prepared to head back to her office in Oberlin.

But, she said, there are "so many places we can't get to right now."

A couple homes were damaged or destroyed in Decatur County, and officials reported opening shelters.

Skubal reported nine tornadoes touching down in Decatur County alone.

In addition to the homes, she said a grain elevator and feedlot had been damaged.

In Gove County, Lies said he only saw one tornado, but there were multiple reports by other emergency personnel.

"Last night was kind of a wild night," he said.

Most of the initial reports were south and west of Grainfield, with minimal to moderate damage. A tractor-trailer was blown onto its side west of Grainfield.

No one was injured, Lies said, but the truck "blocked most the westbound driving lanes of I-70 until they got it shoved into the median."

Lies said he went afield sometime between 2 and 3 p.m. Thursday as the storms first started firing up. By the time he returned home, he had received in excess of 100 phone calls on his cellular phone.

He was awakened this morning at about 5 a.m. when his weather radio went off, alerting him to a storm in Logan County.

Lies said he received 0.94 of an inch of rain in Oakley and had hail an inch and a half in diameter.

After hammering Gove County, the storms passed north into Sheridan and then Decatur counties. Norton and Phillips counties also had severe weather, with water a foot deep reported in downtown Norton.

Just north of Norton, 2.71 inches of rain was reported. Near Phillipsburg, 4.41 inches was reported overnight.

In Sheridan County, emergency director Jacqulyn Boultinghouse was witness to a number of tornadoes.

"I myself personally saw nine tornadoes," she said.

But one she saw near Selden, and estimated that it could have been as much as a half-mile wide, was reported as multiple vortices by people on the other side of the storm.

In any event, tornadoes that swept through Sheridan County destroyed several homes and damaged several others.

"There were no injuries that I know of," she said.

Most of the damage was confined to an area west of Hoxie.

"That's the first time I've ever seen a tornado up close," she said.

That tornado was less than a half-mile away, she said.

The tornado that swept through Sheridan County was one of two long-track tornadoes that were reported by the Goodland NWS.

Johnson said that storm started in the Grainfield area and remained on the ground for about 20 minutes, traveling north into Sheridan County.

Trego County was a hotbed of activity as well, with tornado warnings repeatedly issued for areas south of both WaKeeney and Collyer.

WaKeeney's damage, however, is thought to have been caused by straight-line winds that started at the municipal airport south of town. From there, Roy, the assistant ambulance director, said, the wind passed through the campground and then north along U.S. Highway 283.

Windows were broken out of homes on either side of the highway, a bleacher was tossed over a fence at Trego Community High School and ticket booths broke out a door and windows at the school. A hangar at the airport was damaged by the winds.

Several campers -- all pull-type campers -- were overturned at the KOA campground south of WaKeeney, he said.

As emergency directors review the damage from Thursday, forecasters are looking ahead to what is in store for later today.

Johnson said another round of storms could be waiting for today as temperatures warm.

Thunderstorms already had developed this morning in far northwest Kansas.

"They are talking a repeat of yesterday," Lies said this morning. "We are definitely in the severe, or in the most high chance of severe weather. You guys (in Hays) are dead center in what is coming up from the south."

* Photo Editor Steven Hausler contributed to this report.