April 28, 2014 -- Updated 1633 GMT (0033 HKT)
It's not over. More severe weather is forecast a day after tornadoes
killed people in three states, including 10 in an Arkansas county. FULL STORY
|
MANY DEATHS
|
TOWNS DECIMATED
|
DEADLIEST TORNADOES
|
TOWNS DECIMATED
|
DEADLIEST TORNADOES
TOP U.S. STORIES
-
Clippers protest racism
|
Magic Johnson reacts
-
Cheerleaders sue over 'jiggle test'
- Basketball Hall of Famer 'Dr. Jack' Ramsay dies at 89
-
Surprise! Catcher is really soldier dad
- Teen jet stowaway 'a good kid' but struggling, dad says
- Cowboys and Indian unite against Keystone XL
- Girl killed at Connecticut high school; classmate arrested
- Searchers find grave of "E.T." video game Atari wanted us to forget
- Fishermen use hook to help save man
Millions threatened with severe weather after deadly Sunday storms
April 28, 2014 -- Updated 1556 GMT (2356 HKT)
Tornado outbreak pummels several states
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Alabama schools closing early as more severe weather approaches
- Two children among 10 killed in Faulkner County, Arkansas, official says
- Intensive search and rescue effort begins in hard-hit towns of Vilonia and Mayflower
- More severe weather possible Monday, forecasters say
Are you there? Please send your videos, pictures and text to iReport, but please stay safe.
Mayflower, Arkansas (CNN) -- Parts of the South and
Midwest may be in for more severe weather Monday, a day after suspected
tornadoes killed at least 16 people in three states, including 10 who
died in one devastated Arkansas county.
"There were cars flipped
everywhere, there were people screaming," James Bryant, a Mississippi
State University meteorology student, told CNN's "New Day" on Monday
after a suspected tornado in Faulkner County, Arkansas. "It was a tough
scene."
After darkness hobbled
overnight effort to find survivors or bodies in the hard-hit Arkansas
towns of Vilonia and Mayflower, rescue crews launched a "deliberate,
concentrated search and rescue effort" Monday morning, county spokesman
David Hogue told reporters.
Photos: 10 deadliest U.S. tornadoes
Tornadoes strike central U.S.
'We heard stuff cracking and breaking'
That work will continue
throughout the day behind a police cordon that's keeping residents,
would-be volunteers and gawkers at bay, he said.
Sunday's storm killed 10 people in Faulkner County, including two children, Hogue said.
He said it's "entirely
possible" the death toll will rise as emergency crews search the
wreckage of destroyed homes, including some only recently rebuilt after being flattened three years ago by another tornado.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said the storm was one of the worst to hit the state in recent memory.
"It's devastating for the
people who have lost property," he said. "It's even more devastating
for those who have lost loved ones."
Meanwhile, parts of
Arkansas and several other states face a renewed threat of severe
weather. In Alabama, numerous school districts announced plans to
dismiss early Monday afternoon in advance of the worst weather.
About 3 million people
in the South and Midwest are under a moderate threat for severe weather
Monday, CNN meteorologist Indra Petersons said. About 24 million are at
slight risk of severe storms, she said.
Monday's forecast calls
for a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and hail in parts
of the South. Portions of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana
are at the greatest risk, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
The storms also will
stretch into the Midwest and Ohio River Valley, with much of Illinois,
Indiana and Kentucky at a slight risk of severe weather, forecasters
said.
Tornado watches were
already in effect Monday morning in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Texas, Missouri and Tennessee.
'A huge black cloud'
Arkansas officials
reported 16 people had died there in Sunday's storms. They had earlier
reported 18 deaths but said that figure was in error, Arkansas
Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Kathy Wright told CNN.
Only three people had
died in Pulaski County, not the five reported earlier, she said.
Officials say one person also died in White County, Arkansas and one
each in Oklahoma and Iowa.
News chopper captures tornado touchdown
Tornado rips through Arkansas
The storms boiled up
after nearly a week of forecasts calling for severe weather, including a
rare "high risk" warning from the National Weather Service's Storm
Prediction Center.
Resident Bryant Pruitt said he ducked into his house when he saw a storm cloud approaching from the southwest.
CNN Explains: Tornadoes
"It was huge. It was by far the biggest one I've ever seen," he told CNN affiliate KTHV. "It was a huge black cloud ... and I ran inside."
Another meteorology
student, Cotton Rohrscheib, described how the storm picked up his truck
and skidded it about 120 feet down a highway.
"We were all hunkered down inside of the truck, and praying," he said.
None of the truck's occupants were seriously hurt, he said.
"We were very fortunate to walk out of there."
Heavy damage in Vilonia, Mayflower
Vilonia Mayor James Firestone described a scene of chaos in his town hours after the storm.
"There's a few buildings
partially standing, but the amount of damage is tremendous," he said
Sunday. "There's gas lines spewing. Of course, power lines down. Houses
are just a pile of brick."
It was much the same in Mayflower, a town of 1,600 about 20 miles to the southwest.
Authorities shut down a
section of Interstate 40 after a tornado "as much as a half-mile wide"
roared through the area, according to the National Weather Service.
The heavily used road was littered with crushed and overturned trucks and cars.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers, who was in Mayflower, estimated the winds from the storm were at 130 to 150 mph.
Emergency workers tended to the scene throughout the night. Shelters were set up at the high school and at a local church.
The city's official website said schools would be closed Monday.
Nearly 18,000 homes and
businesses were without power in Arkansas on Monday, more than 10,000 of
them in Faulkner County, Entergy Arkansas reported.
Emergency crews weren't
sure of how many people were missing Monday morning, said David Maxwell,
director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
"I know crews were
extremely busy going door to door last night, but it's just so hard to
do with the power out and after dark," he said.
Beebe, the Arkansas
governor, issued a disaster declaration for Faulkner, Pulaski and White
counties, and President Barack Obama offered his condolences and
promised storm aid to victims while on a four-nation tour of Asia.
'Tell the public to stay away'
Before the bad weather
slammed into Arkansas, witnesses spotted a twister in the northeast
Oklahoma town of Quapaw, where one person died, the Ottawa County
Sheriff's Office said.
Joe Dan Morgan, the county's emergency manager, said rescuers were working in an area where a concrete wall crashed onto a car.
There were other reports of damage in the community, stretching authorities thin.
Quapaw is near the border with Kansas and Missouri.
The same line of storms
hit Baxter Springs, Kansas, just a few miles to the north. Sixty to 70
homes and at least 20 businesses were reported destroyed, said Cherokee
County emergency manager Jason Allison. A tornado estimated to be three
blocks wide rumbled through the town of 4,200, he said.
A sprawling storm front
also hit eastern Iowa, killing a woman in the tiny community of Kinross
in Keokuk County, the sheriff's department said.
The one bright spot amid
Sunday's devastation were the forecasts that predicted the severe
weather days ago, storm chaser Brett Adair said.
The advance notice helped save lives, said Adair, whose team witnessed the Faulkner County storm, then helped victims.
"This definitely was not something to take lightly," he said.
COPY http://edition.cnn.com/
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário