Kansans Spared by Winds See Guardian in News Photo

Updated 7:39 AM ET April 26, 2000 PARSONS, Kan. (Reuters) - Some residents of Parsons believe divine intervention may have saved them from a tornado that ripped through their small Kansas town last week, and they say they have the picture to prove it. Hours before a twister destroyed or heavily damaged more than 200 homes and businesses but caused only minor injuries to a handful of townspeople, a front-page photo appeared in the Parsons Sun newspaper that many now say depicts an angel or a being resembling Jesus hovering in the air.

In the time-lapse shot, taken at a local carnival and published last Wednesday, the bright lights from a Ferris wheel and other rides blur into one another. In the center, the lights come together to form what is being described as a spiritual protector that spared the lives of local people.

"It looks like the body of Christ. His arms are outstretched, and he has on a long white robe," Salvation Army disaster coordinator Deborah Abner said.

Mayor Tom McLarty described the picture as clear. "It doesn't take any imagination to see the image with outstretched arms," he said. "And to think the carnival was wiped off the map just a few hours later."

State and federal officials were still assessing the tornado's effects on Tuesday, but so far they had counted 73 homes and business destroyed and 140 with major damage.

Parsons, population about 12,000, is in southeast Kansas.