By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

WaKeeney residents became ringmasters Thursday when two circus elephants began roaming the town.

According to Trego County Sheriff Richard Schneider, a combination of rain, wind and tornado sirens spooked the animals, which were being housed at the Trego County Fairgrounds in preparation for the Culpepper and Merriweather Circus.

The elephants escaped, with one ending up in Gloria Folkers' backyard.

"I've never been that close to one," Folkers said. "There were so many people after him, I felt sorry for him."

She said the elephant drank water out of the bird bath in her backyard but didn't cause any damage.

Folkers said the elephant continued down the street before officials were able to load it into a truck.

"They talk about storm chasers. Well, we had elephant chasers," Folkers said.

Lavern Pfeifer returned home from work, only to witness an elephant reaching over his neighbor's fence into his yard.

"It reached over the fence a couple of times," Pfeifer said. "We have a tree in the back, and it took a couple branches off the tree -- which I was going to take down anyway."

Schneider said it took a couple of hours to capture both elephants, and Pfeifer said one had to be tranquilized.

The circus act was due to perform two shows Thursday night in WaKeeney, but both were canceled. The show moved on to Ness City today.

The severe weather that spooked the elephants tracked across much of Trego County.

"There were two tornadoes on the ground, but there was no damage," Schneider said. "When they went over WaKeeney, they were up in the air."

Hail and wind caused most of the damage in the Collyer and Voda areas. The National Weather Service in Dodge City confirmed a report of 2-inch diameter hail in Collyer that broke windows.

Schneider also reported hearing reports of up to softball-sized hail in the area.

Strong winds were reported, up to 80 miles an hour.

"It was enough to push my vehicle from one side of the road to the other," Schneider said. "A lot of crops south of Collyer were flattened."

Power lines were blown down north of WaKeeney, but power had been restored to the town by this morning.