T-shirt weather and deadly tornadoes in the US
Print Edition
EAST coast Americans shed their Christmas sweaters on Thursday to enjoy soaring temperatures ahead of the holiday, while further south deadly tornadoes cut a swathe through rural communities.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in New York’s iconic Central Park peaked at 22 degrees Celsius, the warmest Christmas Eve since records began in 1871.
In Washington, tourists and last-minute shoppers wore T-shirts and sat at sidewalk cafes as workers left their offices dressed for holiday parties.
High temperatures were reported as far north as Saint Anicet in Quebec, which hit 21 degrees, and the weather service reported that the port of Norfolk in Virginia broke its December record of 28 degrees.
At Maryland’s only ski station just one of 35 trails was open, thanks to artificial snow-making machines. Last year the Wisp Resort’s runs opened on December 13, NBC Washington reported.
But the abnormally balmy temperatures had tragic consequences further south, where more than a dozen tornadoes were reported in six states.
At least 14 people were killed as the storms, feeding on the unseasonable warm air, left a trail of destruction from Illinois to Alabama.
Heavy damage was inflicted in the south, with seven deaths in Mississippi alone, according to the state’s emergency management agency.
A 7-year-old boy was found dead after the storm picked up and tossed the car he was traveling in, fire chief Kenny Holbrook told reporters in the town of Holly Springs, where some 5,000 households are believed to be without power.
At least 40 people were injured in the state, Governor Phil Bryant said, as he issued a state of emergency that will allow local governments to request aid for recovery.
“Most of these storms caused a lot of damage in north Mississippi but our teams are out assessing the damage, trying to put a quantity on how many homes and how many businesses have been damaged,” the agency said.
Six people were killed in Tennessee and one person in Arkansas was killed, according to media reports.
The weather service in Memphis said an “exceptionally long-track, violent tornado” had likely traveled all the way from Mississippi to Tennessee.
Nick Weems, interim sheriff for Perry County in Tennessee told CNN that his community had “lost several homes” including one in which two people had died. “It’s just a very, very devastating tragic time for our community, especially now here at the holidays,” he said.
One Perry County survivor told CNN that after the tornado it looked “like a wasteland. There’s nothing left.
“We were in the house. We heard the wind picking up. We dashed to the storm shelter. We had 45 seconds and it hit,” he said.
National forecasters were saying that the storm system that produced the severe weather had diminished in strength.
However, isolated thunderstorms were still possible from the Mid-Atlantic to the Gulf Coast.
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