Major storm kills 37 across the US
Source: Agencies |
April 18, 2011, Monday
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A FURIOUS storm system in the US that kicked up tornadoes, flash floods and hail has left at least 37 people dead on a rampage that has stretched for days as it barreled from Oklahoma to North Carolina and Virginia.
Emergency crews searched for victims in hard-hit swaths of North Carolina, where 62 tornadoes were reported from the worst spring storm in two decades to hit the state. Ten people were confirmed dead in Bertie County, county manager Zee Lamb said.
In the capital city of Raleigh, three family members died in a mobile home park, said Wake County spokeswoman Sarah Willamson-Baker. At that trailer park, residents lined up yesterday and asked police guarding the area when they might get back in.
Governor Beverly Perdue said state emergency management officials told her more than 20 people were killed by the storms in North Carolina. However, the far-flung damage made it difficult to confirm the total number of deaths. The emergency management agency said it had reports of 22 fatalities, and media outlets and government agency tallies did not all match.
Perdue planned to travel by helicopter to hard-hit areas to survey the damage.
Meanwhile, at least four deaths were reported in Virginia. Authorities warned the toll was likely to rise further as searchers probed shattered homes and businesses.
The storm claimed its first lives on Thursday night in Oklahoma, then roared through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Authorities have said seven died in Arkansas; seven in Alabama; two in Oklahoma; and one in Mississippi.
In North Carolina, the governor declared a state of emergency and said the 62 tornadoes reported were the most since March 1984, when a storm system spawned 22 twisters in the Carolinas that killed 57 people? 42 in North Carolina.
Daybreak brought news of a horrific death toll in Bertie County, about 210 kilometers east of Raleigh. The tornado moved through about 7pm on Saturday, sweeping homes from their foundations, demolishing others and flipping cars on tiny rural roads between Askewville and Colerian, Lamb said.
One of the volunteers who scoured the rubble was an Iraq war veteran who told Lamb he was stunned by what he saw.
"He did two tours of duty in Iraq and the scene was worse than he ever saw in Iraq? that's pretty devastating," Lamb said.
As dawn broke, dozens of firefighters, volunteers and other officials were meeting in a makeshift command center to form search teams to fan out to the hardest-hit areas.
"There were several cases of houses being totally demolished except for one room, and that's where the people were," he said. "They survived."
Emergency crews searched for victims in hard-hit swaths of North Carolina, where 62 tornadoes were reported from the worst spring storm in two decades to hit the state. Ten people were confirmed dead in Bertie County, county manager Zee Lamb said.
In the capital city of Raleigh, three family members died in a mobile home park, said Wake County spokeswoman Sarah Willamson-Baker. At that trailer park, residents lined up yesterday and asked police guarding the area when they might get back in.
Governor Beverly Perdue said state emergency management officials told her more than 20 people were killed by the storms in North Carolina. However, the far-flung damage made it difficult to confirm the total number of deaths. The emergency management agency said it had reports of 22 fatalities, and media outlets and government agency tallies did not all match.
Perdue planned to travel by helicopter to hard-hit areas to survey the damage.
Meanwhile, at least four deaths were reported in Virginia. Authorities warned the toll was likely to rise further as searchers probed shattered homes and businesses.
The storm claimed its first lives on Thursday night in Oklahoma, then roared through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Authorities have said seven died in Arkansas; seven in Alabama; two in Oklahoma; and one in Mississippi.
In North Carolina, the governor declared a state of emergency and said the 62 tornadoes reported were the most since March 1984, when a storm system spawned 22 twisters in the Carolinas that killed 57 people? 42 in North Carolina.
Daybreak brought news of a horrific death toll in Bertie County, about 210 kilometers east of Raleigh. The tornado moved through about 7pm on Saturday, sweeping homes from their foundations, demolishing others and flipping cars on tiny rural roads between Askewville and Colerian, Lamb said.
One of the volunteers who scoured the rubble was an Iraq war veteran who told Lamb he was stunned by what he saw.
"He did two tours of duty in Iraq and the scene was worse than he ever saw in Iraq? that's pretty devastating," Lamb said.
As dawn broke, dozens of firefighters, volunteers and other officials were meeting in a makeshift command center to form search teams to fan out to the hardest-hit areas.
"There were several cases of houses being totally demolished except for one room, and that's where the people were," he said. "They survived."
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