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Tag: Arkansas tornado

  • Mississippi Tornado Kills Four During Deadly Weather Day in the South

    A Mississippi tornado has left four dead in its wake as it tore through the northern portion of the state and into Tennessee, authorities said.

    The large and extremely dangerous tornado touched down near Clarksdale, the National Weather Service said, before moving through the northern portion of Mississippi and into Tennessee.

    Two more people were killed in Perry County, Tennessee, southwest of Nashville, as the storm system moved through the south.

    According to Tennessee emergency management director, Gary Rogers, two other people are still missing. Three homes were destroyed by the storm, which Rogers told CNN affiliate WZTV was the result of a likely tornado.

    Among the dead is a 7-year-old Mississippi boy. Marshall County Coroner James Anderson said the boy was in a car with his family near Holly Springs, when a tornado came through the area. Although Anderson did not provide details on how the boy died, he confirmed it was weather-related.

    Three others died in Benton County as a result of the deadly storm, authorities confirmed.

    According to Greg Flynn, spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, there were at least 40 people across six Mississippi counties injured as a result of the wild weather.

    A seventh person — an 18-year-old woman — died Wednesday morning in Arkansas as a result of the deadly storm system. The woman was killed when a tree fell through her roof. Four other people were in the house at the time the storm hit, including an 18-month-old, who survived.

  • Tornado Damage Leaves 18 Dead In Southern Towns

    Tornado damage in parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma has left survivors with the task of trying to rebuild after storms barreled through the states over the weekend and left behind devastation.

    The storm system cut a wide swath through Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and North Carolina on Sunday, leaving at least 18 people dead and hundreds more injured. Officials say they fear the death toll will climb as they search through the rubble in areas of Arkansas, where 16 were killed. A death in Quapaw, Oklahoma and the tragic death of an 11-month old baby in North Carolina have also left many communities in mourning.

    Sunday was the anniversary of a deadly outbreak of storms across the Midwest and south, a system which spun out 122 tornadoes and killed 316 people across Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia. Sunday’s tornado in Arkansas grew to about half a mile wide and spat hail onto residents; officials say they believe it was at least an EF3 on the damage scale, which includes winds of up to 136 mph.

    “We don’t have a count on injuries or missing. We’re trying to get a handle on the missing part,” Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said on Monday. “Just looking at the damage, this may be one of the strongest we have seen.”

    Among the destroyed buildings in the area was a $14 million school that was due to open this fall; now, funds will have to come from somewhere to rebuild.

    “There’s just really nothing there anymore. We’re probably going to have to start all over again,” Vilonia Schools Superintendent Frank Mitchell said.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Vilonia, Arkansas Leveled by Tornado Outbreak

    “Do you know what street we are on?”

    Even longtime residents of Vilonia, Arkansas couldn’t recognize where they were after the town took a direct hit by a tornado Sunday evening.

    Greg Johnson, tornado hunter and author of “Blown Away,” arrived in Vilonia just hours after the twister hit.

    “When you see photos of nuclear bomb explosions and the total destruction they cause, what we are seeing in areas here is certainly comparable to that,” he said. “It’s like it has been hit with an atomic bomb – totally flattened.”

    Johnson also posted on Twitter that this destruction looked worse than the EF2 tornado of 2011.

    “We don’t have a count on injuries or missing. We’re trying to get a handle on the missing part,” Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said this morning. “Just looking at the damage, this may be one of the strongest we have seen.”

    Johnson saw firsthand the heartbreak that the tornado caused.

    As it reached Vilonia, the 3,800 resident town just west of Little Rock, the tornado grew to approximately half a mile wide and will most likely be rated as the nation’s strongest twister to date this year, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Hood, who said that it has potential to be at least an EF3.

    But, amidst the destruction, stories of survival are arising. There is a father who took his three girls into the bathtub when the warning was issued, the bathtub soon ripped from the house, rolling several yards from the home with dad and all four girls still huddled inside.

    Johnson and his crew pulled rubble off of a basement and found three families underneath, including a small baby, totally unharmed.

    Karla Ault, a Vilonia High School volleyball coach, sheltered in the school gymnasium as the storm passed. Unfortunately, when she reached her husband, he told her that their home had been reduced to the slab on which it had set.

    “I’m just kind of numb. It’s just shock that you lost everything. You don’t understand everything you have until you realize that all I’ve got now is just what I have on,” Ault said.

    So far across Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Iowa, the death toll stands at 18, but many are still missing or unaccounted for.

    At a news conference in the Philippines, President Barack Obama sent his condolences and promised the government would help in the recovery.

    “Your country will be there to help you recover and rebuild as long as it takes,” he said.

    Before Sunday, the United States had not seen a tornado rated EF3 or higher since November 17, a streak of 160 days, the fourth longest on record.

    Image via YouTube