ROCHELLE STOVALL

ROCHELLE STOVALL

Monday, 20 May 2013

Tornadoes hit Plains, Midwest; 1 dead in Okla.

Another round of dangerous weather is expected to slam the Plains on Monday, after tornadoes that ripped through five states Sunday killed one and left more than 20 injured.
A tornado in Shawnee, Okla., severely damaged a mobile home park and killed a 79-year-old man whose body was found out in an open area of the neighborhood.
"You can see where there's absolutely nothing, then there are places where you have mobile home frames on top of each other, debris piled up," Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth said after surviving damage in the Steelman Estates Mobile Home Park. "It looks like there's been heavy equipment in there on a demolition tour.
"It's pretty bad. It's pretty much wiped out," he said.
More than 60 million Americans are at risk of severe storms today, with the primary targets including Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas, the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center warned.
"Damaging wind gusts, large hail and tornadoes are possible in all areas," Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.
Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis, Cedar Rapids and Minneapolis are among the cities most at risk for severe weather today, AccuWeather meteorologist Meghan Evans said. But Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, and Indianapolis also are in the danger zone.
Sunday, there were 24 reports of tornadoes in five states, the Storm Prediction Center reports. "In what has otherwise been a quiet spring for tornadoes, May 19 appeared to have been the second-most active day for tornadoes in the nation so far in 2013," Weather Channel meteorologist Jon Erdman said.
The storms in Oklahoma on Sunday that ripped off roofs and tossed big trucks like toys were part of a severe weather outbreak that stretched from Texas to Minnesota. Twisters were also reported Sunday in Iowa and Kansas.
Across Oklahoma, 21 people were injured, not including those who suffered bumps and bruises and chose not to visit a hospital, said Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Booth said six at Steelman Estates were hurt.
Gov. Mary Fallin declared an emergency for 16 Oklahoma counties.
Interstate 40 was closed by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol after winds overturned semi-tractor trailer trucks and other vehicles, Newsok.com reported.
KFOR-TV showed footage of homes damaged and cars and trucks flipped from highways near Shawnee. Other video showed flashes from electrical transformers blowing out as they were hit by high winds or debris from the tornado near Edmond.
A tornado touched down in Golden City, Mo., early Monday morning and tore through two counties, Barton County Emergency Management Director Tom Ryan told CNN. The number of injuries and extent of damage were not immediately clear.

SOURCE : http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/05/20/tornadoes-severe-weather-plains-midwest/2325875/

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