2LT International News

CAMPBELL COUNTY, Wyoming: Wyoming officials have said that a tornado struck the country’s largest coal mining site and injured eight people, as well as stopped operations.

First responders searched the massive open-pit site for employees and continued to assess the damage, officials added.

The tornado hit the North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Campbell County during a shift change, initially complicating search and rescue efforts, though before midnight all employees had been accounted for, said Peabody Energy, the mine’s operator based in St. Louis and South Brisbane, Australia.

The company added that six employees were being treated in hospitals, but there were no deaths.

A storm system scattered tornadoes throughout Campbell, Natrona and Johnson counties, said Melissa Smith, a meteorologist and hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Rapid City, South Dakota.

“The tornadoes would form, come down, stay on the ground and come back up,” she added, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Aaron Dye, another National Weather Service meteorologist, said that every year Wyoming experiences an average of 10 to 12 tornadoes that “tend to be quick spin-ups that are not that big, unlike this twister.”

“Seeing that size of a tornado is pretty different,” he said, adding that meteorologists were on the ground in Campbell County taking measurements.

Meanwhile, the company said that until damage assessments at the facility are completed, operations at the mining operation about 64 miles south of Gillette will remain suspended.

The US Energy Information Administration said that the mining site is the largest in the US, and produces almost the same amount of coal in 2021 as Illinois and Montana combined, the fourth and fifth largest coal-producing states.