U.S. storms leave trail of death
Flooding and tornadoes kill more than a dozen people in South and Midwest
CANTON, TEXAS— At least 13 people have been killed by tornadoes or flooding in the U.S. South and Midwest by a storm that also dumped a rare late-season blizzard in western Kansas on Sunday.
Tornadoes hit several small towns in east Texas, killing four people. Three people were killed by flooding and winds in Arkansas, with officials saying two more people are missing. Rushing water swept away a car, drowning a woman in Missouri, and a death was reported in Sunday morning storms that raked Mississippi.
Flooding closed part of Interstate 44 near Hazelgreen, Mo., and officials expected it would be at least a day before the highway reopened. Interstate 70 in western Kansas was closed because crews were waiting for snow falling at eight to 10 centimetres an hour being blown by 56 km/h winds to subside.
An Arkansas volunteer fire department chief was killed while working during storms in north-central Arkansas, state police said.
Cove Creek Pearson Fire Chief Doug Decker died shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday after being struck by a vehicle while checking water levels on Hwy. 25 near Quitman, about 64 kilometres north of Little Rock, Trooper Liz Chapman said. It wasn’t known if he will be counted as a storm-related death, she said.
A 2-year-old girl in Tennessee died after being struck by a metal soccer goalpost that was blown over by high winds, the Metro Nashville Police Department posted on its Twitter page on Sunday evening.
Melanie Espinoza Rodriguez was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to a second post from the department.
Middle Tennessee was hit by a strong line of storms that knocked down trees and power lines earlier Sunday.
Rescuers in northwest Arkansas continued to look for an 18-monthold girl and a 4-year-old boy on Sunday who were in a vehicle swept off a bridge by floodwaters in Hindsville, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said.
A 10-year-old girl drowned also in Springdale and the body of a woman who disappeared riding an inner tube Saturday was found in a creek in Eureka Springs.
Also, a 65-year-old woman in DeWitt in the eastern part of the state was struck and killed in her home by a falling tree, officials said.
In Texas, search teams were going door to door Sunday after the torna- does flattened homes, uprooted trees and flipped several pickup trucks at a Dodge dealership in Canton.
“It is heartbreaking and upsetting to say the least,” Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett told reporters at a news conference Sunday morning.
The storms cut a path of destruction 56 kilometres long and 24 kilometres wide in Van Zandt County, Everett said.
The storms rolled through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday with strong winds causing isolated pockets of damage.
In Durant, Miss., one person died in the storms. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency didn’t give details. Later Sunday, the agency reported the death of a child from Rankin County, 32 kilometres east of Jackson, who died from electric shock in floodwaters. The Rankin County Sherriff’s Department reported that a 7-year-old boy had unplugged an electric golf cart and dropped the cord in water on the ground and was shocked.
Near Clever in southwestern Missouri, a man tried to save his 72-yearold wife from floodwaters that swept away their vehicle Saturday, but her body was found when the water receded, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. A second death from weekend flooding was announced Sunday by Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens but he did not release any details about the victim.