World Cup 2026 LIVE: England forced to shelter after tornado warning in Kansas City

The tornado warning is the latest unwelcome distraction for England in a troublesome couple of days – fortunately, most of the items stolen from them on arrival in Kansas City have now been recovered.

The area where England are staying escaped a tornado, but was hit by a heavy storm consisting of high winds, thunder, lightning and heavy rain.

Warnings were heard blaring out in downtown Kansas City, urging people to go indoors.

Local TV stations interrupted coverage of Scotland’s World Cup clash with Haiti and the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs for minute-by-minute tracking of the storm.

England’s pre-tournament camp in Florida was littered with weather issues, including their final warm-up friendly against Costa Rica being delayed by an hour after a thunderstorm, but nothing as severe as a tornado.

The warning saw Kansas City’s fan festival shut early for safety reasons.

A statement from organisers read: “Due to anticipated severe weather, Fifa fan festival will be closing early at 5pm and will not reopen today. The safety of the public, staff, volunteers and entertainers remains our top priority.”

A tornado has hit Kansas City just hours after England touched down at their World Cup base in the city.

Thomas Tuchel’s side arrived down in the Midwest on Saturday lunchtime after a day and a half off in Florida, holding a community training session at their Swope Soccer Village base at 5pm local time (11pm BST).

The sun was still searing when the squad took to the field, with temperatures at 30 degrees Celsius, but a tornado warning was put out for parts of the city as storms were due to hit in the early evening.

The World Cup rolls on with another jam-packed day of action ahead. We’ll have all of the latest on the first Sunday of the tournament, including a real worry for England ahead of their opener against Croatia….