Tornadoes rip through US Midwest

KANSAS CITY – A powerful storm system tore through parts of the Midwest and South on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving pockets of devastation across several states, marking the acceleration of another deadly tornado season.

Tornadoes and powerful winds tore off roofs, downed power lines, tossed mobile homes and injured more than 150 people from Kansas to Kentucky, according to the National Weather Service.

The damage appeared to be most significant in Harrisburg, a small city in southern Illinois, where six people were killed in the storm and about 100 more injured, according to Lt. Tracy Felty of the Saline County Sheriff’s Office. Blocks of houses and businesses were reduced to rubble. Trees and power lines were tangled along the streets. Puffs of building insulation floated in the air.

“I don’t know how I could still be here with us,” said Charles Turner, 71, whose trailer collapsed on top of him. “After the sirens went off, there was a cracking sound, then everything lit up pretty as could be and my place just exploded around me. Everything went black, and I thought that was it, I was done.”

Firefighters pulled Turner from what was left of his home: the side of a bedroom stuck 20 feet up in a tree, walls gone, and old photos, Christmas decorations and a grandchild’s handwritten letter strewn all around. He was treated at a local hospital and released, and he was packing up what items he could find before going to stay with relatives.

Wiped out

“Everything in the path was completely wiped out, just destroyed,” said Nick Sumner, who ran for cover after waking to tornado sirens. “It’s indescribable. It’s surreal. Nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s something you’d see on a movie. Complete devastation.”

The intense late winter storm system, which resulted from cold air from the Rocky Mountains mixing with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico, also killed at least three people in southern Missouri, according to state officials. Moving east Wednesday night, storms tore roofs from buildings and flattened trees in eastern Tennessee, leaving at least three people dead.

A trailer park in Buffalo, Mo., a small community just north of Springfield suffered a direct hit just after midnight. The dozen trailers were scattered and splintered, many with their startled residents still inside. One person was killed and another 13 were injured, some seriously. One of the trailers caught fire during the rescue operation.

“It looks more like a war zone than a tornado path,” said Lt. Dana Egan of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, who described the scene.

Two deaths were reported elsewhere in Missouri, in Cassville and in Puxico, where Judy Richard, 59, the owner of a local convenience store, said that her cousin’s house, about seven miles away, was destroyed.

“Their house looks like a bunch of matchsticks out there,” she said.

Branson, Mo., a popular tourist draw known for its country-themed shows, also was hit by the storm, which damaged some of the city’s signature venues as it moved up the main drag, according to The Associated Press. The Skaggs Regional Medical Center in Branson reported that 37 people were treated for injuries starting at 2 a. m. Although most were minor, one person was critically injured in a roof collapse.

The storm system hit earlier in Harveyville, Kansas, where a tornado carved a narrow path through the community Tuesday night, injuring several people, destroying about a dozen homes and erasing the familiar profile of the Harveyville United Methodist Church, said the Rev. Dennis Irwin.

“My wife looked up, and the church wasn’t there,” Irwin said. “It was almost surreal. You’re expecting to see this beautiful white church, and it’s a pile of rubble. It didn’t look real. I kept thinking this didn’t really happen, but I’m starting to realize that it is real.”

The sound of warning sirens and the sight of devastation were unnerving reminders of the fierce unpredictability of the skies in this part of the country. Last year, 550 people were killed by tornadoes, many of which struck densely populated areas, making it the deadliest season in 75 years. The worst of those storms leveled much of Joplin, Missouri, just east of where people were digging out Wednesday.

Already this year there have been more tornadoes than usual, according to meteorologists with the National Weather Service.

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