Tornado hits Arkansas, four hurt

MINNEAPOLIS: A tornado ripped through a tiny town in the Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas, injuring four people.

The twister struck Mountainburg, at 4pm on Friday as a line of severe thunderstorms rumbled across eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas.

Crawford County emergency management director Brad Thomas said there were at least three entrapments as the tornado moved through the town of 624 residents.

Thomas said at least four people were taken to hospitals, but he did not know their conditions.

Video from the scene showed uprooted trees, overturned cars, damaged buildings and downed power lines.

Meanwhile, a spring storm was raking the Plains and Midwest.

Blizzard conditions shut down a long stretch of Interstate 90 in South Dakota on Friday and some state government offices were closed. Dozens of schools cancelled classes.

A national weather service blizzard warning covered an area including most of Nebraska and sprawls from north-eastern Colorado to south-eastern Minnesota.

The service said parts of Nebraska could get up to 36cm of snow, with up to 25cm in Iowa.

Wind gusts of up to 80km/h would make travel hazardous, it said.

Parts of Michigan braced for a weekend ice storm. Forecasters said there was a risk of tornadoes south and east of the expected snow, with the focus of that activity in Arkansas. – Ap/african News Agency/ana