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Tornadoes, hail hit south, central U.S.; 27 dead
At least 23 fatalities reported in Tenn. as crews search for bodies, survivors
NEWBERN, Tenn. - Thunderstorms packing tornadoes and hail as big as grapefruits ripped through eight U.S. states, killing at least 27 people, injuring scores and destroying hundreds of homes.
Tennessee was hit hardest, with tornadoes striking five western counties Sunday and killing 23 people, including an infant and a family of four.
Most of the deaths were along a 25-mile path stretching from Newbern, about 80 miles northeast of Memphis, to Bradford, officials said. The Highway Patrol sent teams with search dogs to the area Monday to check what remained of the homes and businesses for anyone who might be trapped in the rubble.
Severe thunderstorms, many producing tornadoes, also struck parts of Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Strong wind was blamed or at least three deaths in Missouri. A clothing store collapsed in southern Illinois, killing one man.
The weather service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said it had preliminary reports of 63 tornadoes.
Tennessee officials estimated 1,200 buildings were damaged in one county alone, and Newbern alderman Robert Hart said witnesses described the tornado that hit his town as being "almost a mile wide."
About a half-dozen tornadoes struck Arkansas and one destroyed nearly half of the town of Marmaduke, according to a fire department official.
In mid-March, tornadoes spun off by another huge storm system killed nine people in Missouri and injured dozens in Illinois. Initial reports indicated that system was responsible for more than 100 twisters in five states from Oklahoma to Illinois, the National Weather Service said.
'I heard a roaring'
In hard-hit Newbern, Tenn., Betty Sisk, her 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son had little chance to take cover from the storm at their home.
「By the time the (tornado) sirens started going off, it was at our back door,」 Sisk said Monday. 「I didn』t hear a train sound, I heard a roaring.」
She and the children ran into a closet.
「The next thing I knew, everything was falling apart,」 Sisk said.
The tornado blew apart the home and flung the Sisks into their yard, where they huddled in the grass until it passed over. Sisk said she watched as the tornado hit and damaged the Jimmy Dean Foods sausage plant across the street.
Nothing remained of Sisk』s wood-frame home Monday except for the concrete steps.
Right on time
A nearby house was destroyed, and Sisk said she had been told the elderly couple who lived there had died. Another neighbor』s home was sitting on its lawn, blown about 30 feet off its foundation.
Paula Kemp, who lives on a small farm outside Newbern, said TV reports had warned of bad weather through the evening and the tornado reached her property 「right at 7:45」 Sunday night, just as the reports had predicted.
She saw the tornado move over a ridge line and a pond on her property before destroying the barn. She and her husband, Steve, crawled into the bathtub with their dogs, she said.
「I thought it was going to lift us up,」 Kemp said. 「I』ve seen the aftermaths of tornadoes but I』ve never been in the middle of one.」
Her house was still standing but the storm blew out all its windows.
The Christ United Methodist Church, which celebrated its centennial in 2005, was reduced to a pile of red bricks across the street from the fire hall. No one was inside the church when it caved in, officials said. |
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