WESTMORELAND — One year after a tornado ripped through Westmoreland, the community is still reeling, but looking toward the future.

“Everything’s kind of still in progress right now,” Mayor Waide Purvis said in an interview last week. “I believe, from the last report I got, there was one house that was destroyed that is completely rebuilt and back livable. We have multitudes of houses that are still in progress.”

According to the National Weather Service, the April 30, 2024, tornado was rated an EF-3 category storm, with peak wind gusts up to 140 miles per hour. The tornado had a 100 foot width and carved a two-and-a-half mile path through the north end of the city, destroying 22 homes and damaging 13 others, as well as the county public works facility and the Westmoreland pool. One person died, three others were injured.

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Crystian Torres, a sergeant with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, stands outside of his home on Scott Drive in Westmoreland. Torres and other residents in the town located about 30 minutes northeast of Manhattan are continuing to push forward in the aftermath of an April 30, 2024, tornado.
Staff photo by Lewis Marien
A view in April 2025 along Fulton Street in Westmoreland a year after the tornado. Some houses are now being rebuilt. Staff photo by Lewis Marien
Homes are being rebuilt on Walnut Street in Westmoreland a year after the tornado on April 30, 2024, struck the town.
Staff photo by Lewis Marien

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