Tornadoes, strong storms pummel U.S. South, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic regions; at least 8 dead
More than a dozen tornadoes have been confirmed in the U.S. South after a weekend of violent weather that left at least eight people dead, the U.S. National Weather Service said Monday.
The agency said a survey team found evidence of an EF-3 twister with winds of at least 220 kilometres an hour near Weches, Texas, and two other smaller tornadoes touched down in the same region Saturday. Another EF-3 twister flattened part of Franklin, Texas.
The system moved eastward into Mississippi, where the weather service said teams had confirmed eight tornadoes. At least three weak tornadoes struck Alabama on Sunday.
Officials said the numbers could go up because teams were still assessing damage.
Four people were killed in Texas. The other victims died in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Strong storms, including at least one tornado, also swept through parts of the U.S. Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic region, damaging homes and businesses and causing injuries.
Storms that hit Ohio on Sunday and moved into New Jersey overnight into Monday brought heavy rains, lightning, strong winds and, in Ohio, at least one tornado.
In Virginia, about an hour south of Washington, D.C., authorities said a tree fell on a house and killed a woman early Monday morning. The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office said the unidentified woman, 78, had been asleep when the tree fell at 1:43 a.m.
An 82-year-old man who was in the home was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.
In Shelby, Ohio, a tornado touched down Sunday, the weather service said.
No deaths were reported, but Richland County emergency officials said that about a halfdozen homes and businesses were damaged and that at least six people were injured in the city 145 kilometres southwest of Cleveland.
The weather service said a possible tornado also swept through part of Clark County in western Ohio on Sunday, about 65 km west of Columbus, and damaged some mobile homes. There were no immediate reports of injuries there.
Storms on Monday spawned a tornado watch and flooded roadways in some areas of New Jersey, causing a roof to collapse at an apartment complex in Camden, though no injuries were reported.
The weather disrupted rail service in the mid-Atlantic region, caused delays at airports and left tens of thousands of utility customers without power.
More than 20,000 customers lost power in New Jersey when the storms hit, though crews were able to quickly restore service to most.
The weather service confirmed Monday that a tornado significantly damaged a lumber company Sunday evening in Starbrick, in northern Pennsylvania.