5 dead as tornadoes cause devastation across central US
Source: Agencies |
April 16, 2012, Monday
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AROUND 100 tornadoes raked across the central United States at the weekend, leaving at least five people dead and 29 injured in Oklahoma alone. Twisters ripped up homes and cut power to hundreds of thousands of people.
Forecasters warned that more tornadoes were possible before the day was over across a swath that stretched hundreds of miles from southern Texas to northern Michigan.
Oklahoma emergency officials said five people died after a tornado touched down at 12:18am yesterday in the northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward, home to 12,000 people. Search teams were scouring the debris for the trapped and injured as the sun came up.
The storms were part of an exceptionally strong system the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma had warned about for days. The center took the unusual step of warning people more than 24 hours in advance of the danger to life.
At the storm's height, tornadoes popped up faster than they could be tallied. The center's spokesman Chris Vaccaro said it had received at least 97 reports of tornadoes by dawn yesterday. He warned the threat wasn't over for people in several states in the nation's interior.
Tornado sirens went off before dawn in Oklahoma City on Saturday. As the storm system lumbered across the nation, storms were also reported in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.
Woodward Mayor Roscoe Hill said warning sirens sounded loudly on Saturday afternoon when storms rumbled through but he didn't hear the sirens go off for yesterday's tornado. He said the tornado struck homes and businesses.
The American Red Cross summoned volunteers to drive relief trucks from Oklahoma City to aid the rescue crews in and around Woodward.
"They're in chaos mode," said Rusty Surette, a regional communications director for the organization in Oklahoma City. Trucks with cots, food, water and medical and hygiene supplies would head to the area, where a shelter was established in a church for those rendered homeless. Over 8,000 people were without power.
A Woodward Regional Hospital spokesman said 29 people, five of them critical, had been brought to the hospital.
At least 10 tornadoes were reported in Kansas. A tornado in Wichita late on Saturday night caused damage at the McConnell Air Force Base and the Spirit AeroSystems and Boeing plants. A mobile home park was also badly damaged.
Yvonne Tucker rushed to a shelter with about 60 of her neighbors at Pinaire Mobile Home Park. She said people were crying and screaming, and the shelter's lights went out when the twister hit. When they came back outside, they found several homes destroyed, including hers.
"It got still," said Kristen Dean, who also lost her home. "Then we heard a wham, things flying. Everybody screamed, huddling together. It is devastating, but you know, we are alive."
Forecasters warned that more tornadoes were possible before the day was over across a swath that stretched hundreds of miles from southern Texas to northern Michigan.
Oklahoma emergency officials said five people died after a tornado touched down at 12:18am yesterday in the northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward, home to 12,000 people. Search teams were scouring the debris for the trapped and injured as the sun came up.
The storms were part of an exceptionally strong system the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma had warned about for days. The center took the unusual step of warning people more than 24 hours in advance of the danger to life.
At the storm's height, tornadoes popped up faster than they could be tallied. The center's spokesman Chris Vaccaro said it had received at least 97 reports of tornadoes by dawn yesterday. He warned the threat wasn't over for people in several states in the nation's interior.
Tornado sirens went off before dawn in Oklahoma City on Saturday. As the storm system lumbered across the nation, storms were also reported in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.
Woodward Mayor Roscoe Hill said warning sirens sounded loudly on Saturday afternoon when storms rumbled through but he didn't hear the sirens go off for yesterday's tornado. He said the tornado struck homes and businesses.
The American Red Cross summoned volunteers to drive relief trucks from Oklahoma City to aid the rescue crews in and around Woodward.
"They're in chaos mode," said Rusty Surette, a regional communications director for the organization in Oklahoma City. Trucks with cots, food, water and medical and hygiene supplies would head to the area, where a shelter was established in a church for those rendered homeless. Over 8,000 people were without power.
A Woodward Regional Hospital spokesman said 29 people, five of them critical, had been brought to the hospital.
At least 10 tornadoes were reported in Kansas. A tornado in Wichita late on Saturday night caused damage at the McConnell Air Force Base and the Spirit AeroSystems and Boeing plants. A mobile home park was also badly damaged.
Yvonne Tucker rushed to a shelter with about 60 of her neighbors at Pinaire Mobile Home Park. She said people were crying and screaming, and the shelter's lights went out when the twister hit. When they came back outside, they found several homes destroyed, including hers.
"It got still," said Kristen Dean, who also lost her home. "Then we heard a wham, things flying. Everybody screamed, huddling together. It is devastating, but you know, we are alive."
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