By KALEY LYON

klyon@dailynews.net

About a week after severe storms began sweeping through the area, Thursday night marked a repeat performance, yielding straight line winds, rain, hail and tornadic activity.

Woodston was among the communities hardest hit, with a home destroyed and two downtown buildings damaged, with one collapsing, said Candace Rachel, Rooks County public information officer.

"Most of the damage was from Stockton and north throughout Rooks County," she said. "We had outbuildings that were damaged, trees that were down."

Additional damage was reported in Plainville, where a tree was knocked over and fell on top of a home, and farms south and west of Palco were harmed as well, Rachel said.

Several power poles were flattened and lines left sagging, and some destruction was reported in Damar, she said.

Most of the farmers in the north part of the county also have reported losing most of their wheat, Rachel said.

The good news, however, is no injuries have been reported from the night of rough weather.

The storms also ushered in heavy rain, ranging from sprinkles to almost 5 inches near the northern county line. This heavy precipitation also resulted in Bow Creek flooding in the northern part of the county, though waters were receding this morning, Rachel said.

Baseball-sized hail also was reported east of U.S. Highway 183, she said.

County roads have been damaged, and motorists are urged to take caution until repairs can be made, Rachel said.

"Rural roads have really taken a hit from this week to last week, so we urge people to drive with caution when they're on the county roads," she said.

In Plainville this morning, there was obvious tree damage caused by the high winds, but most of the damage occurred in rural parts of the county, said Gary Knight, Plainville Police Chief.

"Basically in Plainville, we had some tree damage and stuff thrown around," Knight said. "But the bulk of the storm was out in the county. We had numerous funnels in the county."

At this point, the Storm Prediction Center estimates three tornadoes formed in Rooks County and two in Sheridan County. The National Weather Service does not yet have an official count but has sent crews to Rooks County for data collection and damage assessment, said Meteorologist Corey King with the Grand Island, Neb., National Weather Service.

"Rooks County had two different storms go through that could have potentially had tornados with them. Now we're just trying to confirm whether that was the case," King said.

The first storm moved through the Woodston area, causing significant damage, while the second storm moved by Palco and headed east, he said.

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Power outages were another issue caused by the storm. The western half of Plainville, the city of Palco and other areas in Rooks and Graham counties temporarily were left without power.

Dennis Deines, member services director for WaKeeney-based Western Cooperative Electric, estimated more than 200 people were without power, with more than $50,000 of damage resulting from downed power and junction poles, he said.

"Our biggest hit was over in Rooks County where the storm passed through," Deines said. "We do have quite a few structures that are down again."

About 11 poles were flattened near Plainville, and Palco was without electricity for more than two hours. Power was restored to all but a few customers by this morning, with many of the power lines being re-routed to meet customer needs, he said.

The company also was hard-hit by last week's storms and still is in the process of trying to rebuild from previous storms. Power poles were downed in about seven counties, Deines said.

At this time, damage from the most recent storms still is being assessed. It's likely the amount of damage could prove higher than estimated, he said.

"At this time, we're still assessing damage," he said. "A lot of times, our damage is more than what we really realize, and we're still putting figures together for Kansas Emergency Management and adding to it each day."

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Gove and Logan counties also were in the storm's path Thursday night, with one tornado observed by a storm spotter in north-central Gove County near Grainfield.

The tornado, if on the ground, stayed on rural land and caused little, if any, damage, said George "Pappy" Lies, emergency management director for Gove and Logan counties.

The city of Oakley, however, faced minor damages caused by straight line winds that blew through the city at more than 50 mph, Lies said.

"There were no injuries that I know of, and no serious structural damage," Lies said. "We did have some minor damage."

A tree in the lot of city hall was taken out but fell into the lot away from the building, he said.

Damage also was reported to one roof in Oakley, caused by a large limb ripped from a tree during the high winds. Golfball sized hail, heavy rain and isolated flooding also were reported in the area, Lies said.

The most recent bout of storms came exactly a week after the counties, which also underwent extensive damage in last week's storms, were hit for the first time, Lies said.

While Lies said he hopes the rest of the tornado season will not be as eventful, current evidence suggests it could be a rough season.

"I believe we're going to be in a pretty rough cycle this year," he said. "This is basically, United States-wide, this has been a very active year that started early, and it's got the makings that this could be a very long year."

Graham County also was hit by the storm, but no injuries or damage have been reported yet, head dispatcher Dawnell Taylor said this morning.

Other than power outages, the county did not see many effects from the night's storm, which caused high winds, heavy rain and hail, she said.

"Even with minor inconveniences like this, we're grateful that we haven't had the problems that other counties have had," she said.