All-Night Tornado Watch - All-Night Broadcast News and Weather Too?

From what I'm hearing- there were either few or no TV and broadcast radio pre-warnings for Saturday morning's severe storm and wind event.

Metro Kansas City and a large part of the surrounding area was under a Tornado Watch until 5am Saturday morning.

There were isolated thunderstorm cells already in the Metro when I began my shift at midnight. One inch hail was reported in Independence-MO around 12:15am..

Lines of thunderstorms were building from north-central into south-central Kansas at that time- and they roared east and northeastward- at speeds up to 75MPH as reported by one NWS warning text over the next few hours.

Around 4:30am- a wind gust of 79 MPH was officially recorded at New Century (IXD) airport near Gardner-KS- and the NWS office in Pleasant Hill announced a severe storm warning was being issued for Johnson County (it would also include Wyandotte in KS as well as parts of Cass- Clay & Jackson counties MO.).

Over the next 20 minutes- winds of 60 to 80 MPH ripped east and northeastward- bringing down power lines and tree limbs (some whole trees too). There was scattered structural damage: a roof ripped from an apartment building in Grandview-MO as well as a business in southern Overland Park-KS and KC-MO. Trees fell on houses in Prairie Village-KS as well as KC-MO..

I was too busy taking information and passing it on to my media client KSHB-41 to notice who was doing what on TV or commercial radio. Too busy even to take phone calls during and post event from concerned friends and family.

I do know the morning news producer had arrived but there apparently was no one in 41's weather center. From what I've heard from others- it was basically the same on all the other TV stations in town- as well as commercial radio.

Fortunately- except for the driver of a UPS truck that was blown over on I-435 in Lenexa during the storm- there were no reported injuries.

Other than what I know for sure who was where- this I DO know:

Like the early-morning hours of last May 2nd- when there's a tornado watch that includes Metro Kansas City and the watch covers overnight periods- during the winter- you BEST have somebody ready to go on the air when hurricane-force winds are about to strike a 2-million-person metropolitan area.

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