US: June 13, 2008


CHICAGO - A casualty of powerful storms that hit the Kansas State University campus on Wednesday was the Wind Erosion Lab, which the university said was destroyed by an apparent tornado.


"The damage on campus is extensive," said Tom Rawson, the university's vice president for administration and finance. "The Wind Erosion Lab is gone. There is significant damage to the engineering complex."

Storms and tornadoes raked Kansas overnight and caused an estimated US$20 million damage at the university campus in Manhattan. No one was injured, a spokeswoman said.

"Roofs have been damaged or torn off, windows have been blown out in many buildings," Rawson said in a statement.

One of the damaged buildings housed the university's nuclear reactor, but the reactor remains unharmed, the university said.

(Reporting by Bob Burgdorfer)


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