110 Tornados in US MidWest [Archief]

Wizdom

13-03-06, 19:22

Tornadoes spin death, damage across US Midwest
Mon Mar 13, 2006 12:48 PM ET

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Violent storms that spawned a record number of tornadoes killed at least eight people across the Midwest, many dying in Missouri where twisters wrecked mobile homes, authorities said on Monday.

There were at least seven deaths in Missouri, with the other fatality a drowning victim in Indiana, emergency management officials said.

The preliminary estimate of 110 tornadoes that touched down on Sunday broke a 16-year-old record for any day in March, the National Storm Prediction Center said.

Damage and power outages from the weekend storms and twisters extended across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

"Missouri got banged this weekend," said Joe Schaefer of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Four people who lived in mobile homes died in and around Moberly, Missouri, which was struck by a powerful twister on Sunday, Schaefer said. Other victims were reported in Sedalia and Marionville.

Missouri's emergency management agency said 29 counties sustained storm damage.

The unsettled weather across the United States included a freak snowfall in normally balmy sections of California and relief from the record 143-day drought gripping Phoenix.

Wind, hail, lightning and downpours paraded across the Midwest. The mayor of Springfield, Illinois, compared the damage from Sunday's large tornado to what he had seen from Hurricane Katrina.

Officials at the University of Kansas said the main campus in Lawrence suffered about $6 million damage on Sunday, but there were no injuries. Classes for the 26,000 students were canceled on Monday, spokesman Todd Cohen said.

More than half the buildings on the campus suffered some sort of damage, ranging from blown-in doors to ripped-off roofs. The soccer stands were left in twisted wreckage, he said.

On Saturday, another 17 tornadoes were reported across the region, contributing two fatalities to the weekend death toll.

(Additional reporting by Michael Conlon)

Wizdom

13-03-06, 19:26

Ten dead in Midwest twisters
Springfield, Illinois, hit hard

Monday, March 13, 2006 Posted: 1444 GMT (2244 HKT)

A woman was killed at this mobile home during a tornado Sunday south of Sedalia, Missouri.

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (AP) -- Swarms of tornadoes killed at least 10 people across the Midwest, shut down the University of Kansas and damaged so much of Springfield, Illinois, on Monday that the mayor said "every square inch" of town suffered some effects.

The violent weather started during the weekend, part of a line of storms that stretched from the southern Plains up the Ohio Valley, and continued Monday.

Fierce wind raked Springfield early Monday, causing more damage in a city that had been struck by a tornado the night before. Power lines were down across city, trees uprooted and windows blown out. (Watch the swath of destruction as residents awake after the storm -- 1:22)

Nineteen people were treated for minor injuries, and police were searching homes and businesses early Monday for other victims, said city spokesman Ernie Slottag.

In a neighborhood of southwestern Springfield, Illinois, a mother, father and child survived in their home overnight by huddling in a bathroom as the storm ripped away the roof over their heads. Powerful winds carried the roof across the street, depositing it in their neighbor's backyard.

Not far away, at a Huck's gas station, snapped power polls dangled over a roadway. Gasoline pumps were overturned amid widespread debris -- plastic, plywood and sheet metal.

Mayor Tim Davlin said he expected "every square inch of Springfield" will have suffered some effect from the storms.

"It's just unreal," Davlin said early Monday from the city's Emergency Operations Center.

Most major roads into the city were closed and one man was reported missing after his home was destroyed. The roof was torn off a Springfield Wal-Mart store.

The tornado that struck Springfield on Sunday had made a two-hour pass through central Illinois, striking a series of counties. The Scott County, Illinois, sheriff's department confirmed that a tornado touched down in Manchester, a town of about 300 people, although there were no immediate reports of injuries.

"It's a mess over there," said Scott County sheriff's department dispatcher Rosann Lindsey. "A lot of buildings are down over there."

That length of time on or near the ground made the twister "a highly unusual event," said National Weather Service senior forecaster Ed Shimon in Lincoln.

The same line of thunderstorms threatened to spawn more twisters Monday in parts of Michigan and Indiana, where the National Weather Service issued tornado watches until late morning and noontime, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said. Watches are issued when conditions are favorable for tornadoes.

The Chicago area also was struck by high wind, with gusts to 70 mph reported in suburban Tinley Park, and roofs were blown off several apartment buildings in suburban Bridgeview. Localized flooding was reported in the Chicago and Quad Cities areas.

Missouri was hardest hit by the weekend storms, with at least nine people killed and hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed or damaged. Hail as big as softballs pounded parts of Missouri.

Bobby Ritcheson, 23, said he watched as a neighbor was killed south of Sedalia, Missouri.

"The trailer came down right on top of her," Ritcheson said from a Sedalia hospital where he had taken his pregnant wife out of concern she might be going into labor.

Homes were destroyed along a path of more than 20 miles south of St. Louis, officials said.

Missouri authorities reported four bodies found in the rubble of homes near the north-central town of Renick, two people killed when a tornado hurled their pickup truck beneath a propane tank about 80 miles south of St. Louis, the woman killed near Sedalia and another found dead in Henry County. In southwest Missouri, a 63-year-old man died early Monday from injuries suffered when a twist hit near Marionville.

Another storm victim was found in Indiana.

University of Kansas Provost David Shulenberger said classes were canceled Monday because of safety concerns about debris falling from roofs. The Lawrence campus was littered with trees, roof tiles and window glass.

Two trees fell through Rhonda Burns' mobile home in Lawrence early Sunday.

"If the wind had shifted that tree just a few inches, I wouldn't be talking to you," she said.

High wind lifted a cargo container off the airfield at Kansas City International Airport and blew it into several vehicles.

Tornadoes also touched down Sunday in Oklahoma and Arkansas, and heavy rain flooded roads in Indiana.

In northeastern Oklahoma, a tornado destroyed 25 to 50 homes near the town of Oaks, said Mike Miller, spokesman for the Cherokee Nation. At least 12 people were taken to a hospital, Miller said.

Several dozen homes were heavily damaged by a tornado in northwestern Arkansas.

"It was over before you knew it," said Greg Kospar, 41, of Bentonville, Arkansas. "The house is gone."

CNN's Keith Oppenheim and Chad Myers contributed to this report.