Severe thunderstorms packing tornadoes and grapefruit-sized hail
left a path of destruction across six Midwest states in United
States, killing 19 people.
Nineteen deaths were reported in western Tennessee, including a
family of four. In Missouri, strong winds were blamed for at least
three deaths. A clothing store collapsed in southern Illinois,
killing one man and injuring several others.
In Tennessee, eight people died near Newbern in Dyer County and
seven in neighboring Gibson County, local emergency officials
said.
A twister carved a path through a cluster of homes near the
Jimmy Dean Foods plant north of Newbern, Tennessee, where several
victims died. The plant, which makes breakfast sausages and other
food products, was also damaged, a security guard said.
In Fayette County, Tennessee, just east of Memphis, a home was
thrown from its foundation, a grain silo was destroyed and a mobile
home overturned, The Tennessean reported.
The National Weather Service in Memphis preliminarily reported
tornadoes in five counties in western Tennessee Dyer, Carroll,
Haywood, Gibson and Fayette and officials said the storms caused
extensive damage.
In Missouri, strong winds were blamed for at least three deaths.
A 42-year-old man was killed when winds knocked over his mobile
home near Circle City, Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner said. A
second death was reported in Braggadocio, Missouri, in Pemiscot
County, the state emergency management office said, but no details
were available.
Another man was killed when a tree fell on him as he walked
along a trail in Castlewood State Park near Ballwin, Missouri, in
St. Louis County, a spokeswoman for St. Louis County police told
the Post-Dispatch.
A Kentucky county declared a state of emergency early yesterday
after rescue workers struggled to get to rural areas because of
power lines and trees that blocked roadways.
Half a dozen tornadoes and grapefruit-sized hail were reported
in northeast Arkansas, where about half of the town of Marmaduke
had evacuated because of gas leaks and other concerns, police
said.
Severe thunderstorms also struck Indianapolis as thousands of
fans departed a free John Mellencamp concert that was part of the
NCAA's Final Four weekend. Concertgoers scrambled for cover as
tornado sirens sounded and sheets of heavy rain lashed the
sidewalks and streets. Meteorologists were trying to confirm
reports of a tornado downtown.
(China Daily April 4, 2006)
