Another Tornado Reported, This One in Massachusetts

Residents of Springfield, Mass., sought cover Wednesday after a warning about another possible tornado. An earlier storm damaged buildings, toppled trees and caused numerous injuries

The National Weather Service says experts are preparing to go out and assess the severity of a severe weather system that has spawned apparent tornadoes and caused heavy damage in several Massachusetts communities.At least two tornadoes struck Springfield, Massachusetts, and numerous other communities in the western part of the state Wednesday, leaving behind "many injuries" and extensive damage, the state's governor said.

Deadly tornadoes churn across Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas

At least 15 people died in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma in the latest round of severe weather to strike the US heartland, authorities said Wednesday, in what has already become a historic spring storm season.

Joplin deaths rise, more twisters in US Midwest

The death toll from a monster tornado that savaged Joplin, Missouri, rose to 125 today after an overnight search turned up more bodies but no new survivors, authorities said.

The tornado that wrecked up to a third of the city of 50,000 on Sunday was upgraded to an EF-5, or the highest rating possible on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado power and intensity. It had been rated an EF-4.

Search teams using dogs and heavy equipment pressed on through a harsh night of more stormy weather amid the wreckage of homes, business, schools and churches.



About 1,500 people have been reported missing and some 750 people were injured, according to authorities.

EF-5 tornadoes, with winds at or above 328 km/ph, are rare in the United States but already this year there have been at least four – two in Mississippi, one in Alabama, and in Joplin. They are so destructive that experts said they can turn a house into a missile.

A fresh line of tornadoes and thunderstorms rumbled through the Midwest again yesterday night, bringing more death and destruction to the region, though sparing Joplin.

The storms killed at least seven people and injured many more as tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma, Kansas and into Arkansas.

President Barack Obama plans to visit Joplin on Sunday, after he returns from a weeklong, four-nation tour in Europe

Joplin Tornado wide spread destruction.

America's deadliest tornado for 64 years: Terrifying twister cuts six-mile swathe through a Missouri town, leaving up to 116 dead

* Devastating 198mph tornado tore a path a mile wide and six miles long straight through Joplin, Missouri
* Deadliest single tornado in over 60 years with at least 116 people killed
* Meteorologists issue new tornado warning for the ruined city
* Nearly 500 people have now died as a result of tornadoes in the U.S. in 2011
* Residents only had 20 minutes to take cover before monster tornado swept through the heart of the city
* Missouri governor declares state of emergency in city of about 50,000 people
* Emergency workers say thunderstorms are hampering efforts to find survivors as 1,500 rescuers search for missing
* Family and friends of the missing post moving appeals for information on Facebook and blogs
* Storm Prediction Center says more violent weather expected with further tornadoes through the middle of week

Thousands of people were left without homes to go tonight after the deadliest single tornado to strike the United States in over 60 years touched down on Missouri, reducing the city of Joplin to rubble, ripping buildings apart and killing at least 116 people in a 6-mile path of destruction.

Authorities said they had rescued seven people alive on Monday, but emergency warned that the death toll could climb higher as heavy winds, strong rain and hail quarter-sized hail stones hampered the search effort.

Meteorologists issued a new tornado warning for the devastated city as forecasters warned large swathes of the country to brace for more big storms on Tuesday.

Despair: A tree stripped of bark and leaves frames St John's Regional Medical Center

Relief: Maggie Kelley and her husband, Trey Adams hug their dog, Saint, after finding him amid the rubble of her home in Joplin

Map: Infrared image of the powerful tornado that spun through a densely populated part of Missouri

Devastation: Destroyed homes and debris cover the ground as a second storm moves in on Monday in Joplin, Missouri

Eye of the storm: The tornado tore a 6-mile path across southwestern Missouri

Desolation: A residential neighbourhood in Joplin is seen after it was levelled by the tornado

Aftermath: Aerial footage of the destruction in Joplin, Missouri, where a massive tornado tore straight through the city

Heatbreaking: Joplin resident Chue Vang, 50, reacts after coming home to discover that her home was destroyed by the devastating tornado

Widespread devastation: Another tornado in Minneapolis damaged at least 100 homes, toppling hundreds of trees and injuring at least 29 people

Emergency: Extensive damage can be seen at the St John's Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Missouri. An emergency agency spokesman says fatalities had been reported but was unsure of the exact figure

Devastation: Emergency personnel walk through a neighbourhood severely damaged by a tornado near the Joplin hospital. There are are no firm details on the number of dead or injured, as the hospital is out of action

Unbelievable: Destroyed vehicles are piled on top of one another in the parking lot of the Joplin Regional Medical Centre

Levelled: Red Cross representatives say 75% of Joplin is gone - here, vehicles and houses in the vicinity of Twenty-fourth and Main Streets are a jumble of rubble after a the tornado swept through

Nothing remains: Anita Stokes salvages meat from a freezer at her home that was destroyed by a tornado in Joplin

Efforts: Rescue workers in lime-green jackets search for bodies and survivors inside St John's hospital

Soul destroying: Jean Logan surveys the damage to her home in Joplin after the tornado. She had taken refuge in her laundry room with her granddaughter

Homeless: Ted Grabenauer sleeps on his front porch the morning after a tornado ripped off the roof of his home when it hit Joplin, Missouri

Search: An emergency vehicle drives through a severely damaged neighbourhood in Joplin

Ruins: A view of the devastation after a tornado blew the roof off the St John's Regional Medical Center, rear, where about 180 patients cowered and were eventually evacuated

Raised to the ground: Blocks of homes lie in total destruction after the devastating tornado

Clean-up begins: 'There was significant damage caused by large hail, which broke windows and broke tree limbs,' Ms Watson said. The local post office and volunteer fire department were damaged

A total mess: Rachel Hurst picks through her belongings that were strewn about from her garage that was blown away in Minneapolis on Sunday

Path of destruction: No house escaped the wrath of nature in some of Minneapolis

Condolences: President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon during his visit to Dublin, Ireland. The President extended his condolences to all impacted by the deadly tornadoes

Flattened: Reading - a town of about 250 people, 50 miles south of capital city Topeka

A taste of spring? Trees were stripped of branches and many were left resting against houses

Re-united: A man carries a young girl who was rescued after being trapped with her mother in their home

Community spirit: Residents of Joplin help a woman who survived in her basement after a tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long destroying homes and businesses

Desperate: Amy Langford carries items from her house that she was in with her husband Mark when the tornado hit their home in Joplin

Tornadoes, storms rip through US South, 185 dead

Overnight tornadoes leaves part of Pratt City, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, in ruins April 28, 2011. Devastating storms and tornadoes raked though the US South, killing at least 185 people as they ripped houses to rubble, flipped cars and uprooted trees and power lines, officials said today.

Devastating storms and tornadoes raked though the US South, killing at least 185 people as they ripped houses to rubble, flipped cars and uprooted trees and power lines, officials said today.

In the deadliest series of storms in nearly four decades in the United States, 128 people were killed in Alabama, the worst-hit state.

In Mississippi, 32 were killed, while 10 people died in Georgia and 11 in Arkansas. Louisiana and Tennessee also reported deaths as the clusters of powerful tornadoes and storms tore a swathe of destruction from west to east.







Some of the worst devastation occurred yesterday in Alabama, where a massive 1.6km-wide tornado slammed into Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, killing at least 15 people, including some students.

Tuscaloosa resident Jannie Ross said she and her family took shelter in the basement of their home when the tornado struck.

“We could hear debris hitting the side of our house, glass breaking and the train sound often attributed to big storms such as these,” she told the University of Alabama newspaper, The Crimson White.

“We could hear it destroying everything outside.”

US President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency for the state and ordered federal aid.

“Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation and (we) stand ready to continue to help the people of Alabama,” Obama said in a message on Twitter today.

The storms also forced the Tennessee Valley Authority to close three nuclear reactors at a power plant in Alabama and knocked out 25 high-voltage power lines. Hundreds of thousands of homes have lost power.

“We have never experienced such a major weather event in our history,” said the Tennessee Valley Authority, a US-owned company that provides electricity to 9 million people in seven states.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency and said he was deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen. Governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee also declared states of emergency.

“We’re in a search and rescue mode. We’re making sure that those that may be out there that are trapped, that we have not found, we are trying to find them,” Bentley told CNN.

“There has been massive devastation across northern Alabama. These long-track tornadoes really tear up the landscape as well as homes,” he said.

Tornadoes are a regular feature of life in the US South and Midwest, but they are rarely so devastating.

Images from Tuscaloosa, a town of around 95,000 in the west-central part of the state, showed widespread damage.

“Everybody says it (a tornado) sounds like a train and I started to hear the train,” Anthony Foote, a resident of Tuscaloosa whose house was badly damaged, said. “I ran and jumped into the tub and the house started shaking. Then glass started shattering.”

The campus of the University of Alabama, home of the famous Crimson Tide football team, was not badly damaged but some students were killed off campus, Bentley said.

Damage in Alabama was spread over a wide area through the north and central part of the state, said Jennifer Ardis, Bentley’s press secretary.

The highest toll was in Franklin County in the rural northwest part of the state where 18 people died, according to figures from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

Eleven people died in Jefferson County, home to Birmingham, the state’s largest city, the agency figures showed.

Authorities in Alabama and Mississippi said they expect the death toll to rise as emergency workers attempt rescues and recovery in the storm’s wake.

At least 5 dead in Tennessee flooding; tornado warnings in Arkansas

The flood in Middle Tennessee has caused havoc in the area as a result of which eleven people have died and thousands are stranded.

According to Tenessean reports the streets and roads of Nashville have been flooded with water. The reports further tell us that Nashville received a record breaking rainfall of thirteen inches on weekend. The situation may worsen even more because the calculations show that the Cumberland River will rise beyond its capacity. The river’s water level will rise to 50 feet which is very close to the flood level of 55 feet after attaining which the river will overwhelm the Nashville city.

As result of the flood, 150 plus roads have been blocked and air activities at Nashville International Airport
are also disturbed. The flood has affected every walk of life. Following the flood all the educational institutes had to cancel their classes on Monday. Thousands of people are without power and it was heard from the officials of the power company that it will take two or three days to restore electricity to the more 36,000 customers in Davidson Country alone. The damage extended from Memphis to Middle Tennessee. The administration of the area plans to seek federal disaster status, which will help in securing funding for aiding in recovery efforts.

The mayor of the area Karl Dean revealed the most horrendous picture of the flood when he said that an air survey of the area shows that the damage caused by the flood is more than the perceived.

Severe flooding killed at least five people in central Tennessee on Saturday, officials said, as floodwaters inundated roads, highways and homes in and around the Nashville area.

The National Weather Service also said 33 of 75 counties in Arkansas are under a tornado warning, and 25 counties in Tennessee are under a tornado watch.

Two people were killed Saturday when floodwaters swept them away as they tried to seek safety on the roof of their SUV about 80 miles northwest of Nashville, Stewart County emergency management spokesman Clint Mathis said.

Three more people were reported dead in counties near Nashville, Tennessee Emergency Management spokesman Jeremy Heidt told CNN.

Between 6 and 10 inches of rain has fallen in 12 hours in the area, causing "extremely dangerous" flooding, the National Weather Service said.

"This is one of the most severe rain events Nashville has ever experienced," Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said in a statement.

Dean said more than 50 water rescues had been conducted Saturday, and more were under way.

"I urge all Nashville residents to stay home and stay off the roads," Dean said.

At least 2,000 people were displaced after two levees broke in Millington, a small city near Memphis, Millington Police said.



Video from CNN affiliate WZTV showed more than a dozen vehicles submerged in several feet of swift-moving water on I-24 in Nashville.

Rescue workers helped drivers escape as water surrounded their cars, CNN affiliate WSMV reported. The floodwaters pushed a home off of its foundation and into the middle of I-24.

Video from WZTV showed a school annex building floating down the interstate before breaking into pieces.

WSMV: Section of I-24 closed by massive flooding

Officials are advising residents to stay off roads, as many have become impassable.

Janel Lacy, a spokeswoman for the Nashville mayor's office, said that in addition to I-24 in Davidson County, 20 other local roads were closed.

CNN iReporter Andrew Ellis sent in a video of a "raging river" of water rushing over an open field where people usually play soccer and golf in Lexington, Tennessee.

"The flooding brought the town to a standstill. No one could get in and no one could get out," he said. "Many homes, vehicles and entire neighborhoods either were or still are under water."

CNN iReporter Jennifer Alter said her dad helped her push her car out after she got stuck on Christmasville Road in Jackson, Tennessee, on the way to work early Saturday morning.

"We went back to check it a few hours later and the road was gone," she said.

Lacy said one shelter had opened at Lipscomb University, and officials planned to open others.

The rain is expected to continue into Sunday morning, she said.

Heidt said floodwaters were expected to crest around 11 p.m. CT (midnight ET) Saturday.

The weather service has reported record flooding at Mill Creek, near Antioch, Tennessee.

Powerful tornado leaves 10 dead Mississippi counties devastated as storm tears through South

Residents sift through debris in a destroyed home near Yazoo City, Miss., on Saturday after a tornado passed through. Gov. Haley Barbour said there was "utter obliteration" in parts of Yazoo County.

A massive tornado ripped through the southeast U.S. on Saturday, killing at least 10 people in Mississippi and injuring more than a dozen. Scores of homes were splintered, vehicles were overturned and roads were blocked by toppled trees.

Gov. Haley Barbour said there was "utter obliteration" in parts of Yazoo County, an area known for cotton, catfish, blues music and picturesque hills rising from the flat Mississippi Delta.

Barber became tearful when he described the devastation in Yazoo City, his hometown. "We still have people trapped in houses and cars," he said at an impromptu news conference.

"It reminds me of Katrina," he said, recalling the devastating 2005 hurricane.

Click Continue Reading for more news clippings and Tornodo Mississippi news.




Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said five people were killed in Choctaw County, including three children. Four victims were in Yazoo County and one was in Holmes County.

Barber declared a state of emergency for 17 counties hardest hit by the twister and called up the Mississippi National Guard to protect residents and property.

The path of destruction was several miles wide and so severe that many roads were impassable. Rescue workers were using all-terrain vehicles to search for injured people and take them to hospitals.

Malcolm Gordon, 63, stood with members of his family peering through a broken window of their Yazoo City home. Above them, the roof was gone, a tree lay across part of the house and power lines stretched across the yard. Gordon said he and his wife, Diane, hid in a closet while much of the neighborhood was blown away.

"I'll just bulldoze what's left and start over," he said.

Willie Horton, 78, said he hunkered down in the hallway of his house in rural Holmes County when the storm roared through the area.

"Everything is down. A lot of trees. Big trees," Horton said.

He said his sister-in-law's house down the road was damaged, and a nephew's mobile home was carried away.

"My cousin -- half his barn is gone," Horton said.

The National Weather Service said it appeared the tornado formed in Tallulah, La., early Saturday and swept through Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. It wasn't clear if it maintained contact with the ground or touched down multiple times. Late Saturday, forecasters said the severe weather was continuing to track eastward.

In Madison Parish, La., the tornado destroyed the Tallulah Port near the Mississippi River, damaged a chemical plant and trapped some Tallulah residents in their homes.

Madison Parish Sheriff Steve Cox said all the trapped residents were freed, but several were injured.

"I would say 10-12 homes that I know of were affected," Cox said. "I've never seen anything like it. One minute it's peaceful and quiet, and the next minute, BAM!"


Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) says more than 100 homes are uninhabitable after a tornado cut through the state, killing 10 people and injuring dozens.

Barbour said Sunday that about 100 homes in Yazoo County and 38 in Choctaw County are not livable. He says state emergency officials are still trying to determine how many people have been left homeless after Saturday's storm.

He said it is unlikely that a final tally of damage will be available before Tuesday.

When asked how well warning systems worked, the governor said he had no reason to doubt people had enough notice.