WICHITA, Kan.—Tornadoes on Thursday, rain and more flooding on Friday — it seems the Great Plains can’t catch a break.

Actually, a short break is exactly what the nation’s midsection is expected to receive this weekend, before more storms rake the region early next week.

The past two days have been a real show; indeed, like a circus show in Kansas, where storms spooked a pair of circus elephants that escaped their enclosure and roamed a town before being captured.

One of the animals entered a backyard less than a mile from the fairgrounds in WaKeeney and was blocked off by fire trucks until trainers could coax it onto a truck, Trego County Sheriff Richard Schneider said.

“I guess it got tired of walking around,” he said.

The second elephant was tranquilized in another backyard, coaxed into a truck and returned to the circus, which was already packing up to head to the next town, Schneider said.

At least four tornadoes touched down in western and central Kansas Thursday. Tornadoes were also reported in Nebraska and Missouri, and a funnel cloud was spotted in Colorado. Iowa, meanwhile, continued to suffer flooding that has plagued the state since May 25.

A twister in Clay County in north-central Kansas destroyed a home, damaged several other buildings and toppled trees and power lines, sheriff’s dispatcher Cat Dallinga said. Storms also damaged roofs at the Pratt County airport in south-central Kansas and overturned tractor-trailers along Interstate 29, officials said.

Wind and hail caused extensive roof damage in Collyer, near WaKeeney, Schneider said.

Computer forecasting models for Thursday resembled those on June 8, 1974, when 39 tornadoes raked the southern Plains and killed 22 people. The National Weather Service on Tuesday took the unusual step of giving advance warning of a possible tornado outbreak based on the conditions.

By late evening, no storms had caused major damage or injuries, though Noreen Schwein of the National Weather Service in Kansas City cautioned there was still potential for strong storms.

“We’re certainly not out of the woods yet,” she said.

Storms soaked the region Wednesday and then moved across to the mid-Atlantic region. Four deaths were blamed on the storms, in Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia and Virginia.

Tornadoes touched down in southern Iowa, causing isolated damage in rural areas. Many rivers flooded.

“The rivers haven’t had a chance to go down, and with the heavy rains, they just keep going higher,” said Brad Fillbach, another meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Residents in Corning were seen paddling makeshift boats across town while some businesses were halfway under water. One man was seen pulling a cow from the waters with a rope.