The tornado that touched down west of Aurora Wednesday night was at least a quarter-mile wide and stayed on the ground for 18 minutes, but a National Weather Service assessment team said it was not responsible for damage at a pet foods manufacturing plant.

The tornado actually tracked a quarter mile south of the pet food plant, the team said. It attributed damage at the Iams plant to "strong inflow thunderstorm winds."

Some people who live near the plant disagree.

"Sorry, I disagree with the weather service," a woman named Peggy commented at JournalStar.com. "We live just north of Iams, on North K Road, and we stood on our front porch and watched the tornado hit the transformer. It was dark enough we could see the sparks fly! It was a tornado."

Another poster made an apparent reference to a storm chaser's widely circulated video that purportedly shows the tornado hitting the plant.

"They obviously haven't watched the video yet," wrote Brett.

The weather service team also said:

* The tornado touched down at 8:59 p.m. at the intersection of U.S. 34 and Road G, tracked east along U.S. 34 for five miles and lifted at Road M, about two miles west of Aurora, at 9:17 p.m.

* The tornado was rated an EF2, with winds between 111 mph and 135 mph.

* About a dozen railroad cars were overturned northeast of a farmstead hit by the storm. The cars had been cleared by midmorning.

The weather service said a super cell thunderstorm also spawned tornadoes in eastern Buffalo County on Wednesday night.

Tornadoes were reported nine miles north and two miles west of Gibbon. Both were rated EF1, with winds between 86 mph and 110 mph.

At least two farms were damaged.