England World Cup training camp in Kansas City hit by tornado warning

The England squad were told to shelter indoors on Saturday evening after a tornado warning was issued for much of Kansas City.

The whole England delegation received automated warning messages on their phones just after 8pm local time on Saturday from the U.S. National Weather Service, telling them that there was a ‘Severe Thunderstorm Warning' and that they should “take shelter in a sturdy building, away from windowsâ€, with fears of winds of up to 80mph.

This was upgraded soon after 8.30pm to a ‘Tornado Watch' for Johnson County, Kansas, where the England team are staying, and a more severe ‘Tornado Warning' for Jackson County, Missouri, where the team training ground is, and where they trained for the first time on Saturday afternoon. A tornado was later reported in Missouri, but outside of Kansas City itself.

The England hotel and training ground were themselves unaffected by the worst of the conditions, although Fox's coverage of Scotland vs Haiti, which many in the England camp were watching, was taken over by live weather coverage.

The heavy winds and rain that passed through Kansas City on Saturday evening resulted in power cuts for many residents. But with the worst of the weather having passed through Kansas City by late on Saturday night, England still plan to train as normal at Swope Soccer Village on Sunday ahead of their World Cup Group L opener against Croatia in Dallas on Tuesday.

Extreme weather caused delays to multiple matches at last summer's Club World Cup in the United States. There are storm warnings for two World Cup games on Sunday: Sweden vs Tunisia in Monterrey and Ivory Coast vs Ecuador in Philadelphia. The Athletic will have up-to-date weather reports, as well as live coverage, for all matches.