Dozens Die As Tornado Swarms Hit The US

**bb1** Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:34 pm

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16181374

At least 34 people have been killed in the US after dozens of tornadoes tore through several states.

Fourteen people were killed in southern Indiana, another 17 in neighbouring Kentucky, at least two in Ohio and one in Alabama.
The fatalities occurred as powerful storms stretched from the US Gulf Coast to the northern Great Lakes, leaving buildings flattened and at least one small town wrecked.
It is thought up to 90 tornadoes struck across seven states of the country, putting up to 10 million people at risk.
Widespread damage was reported across Indiana and Clark County Sheriff's Department Major Chuck Adams said the town of Marysville was "completely gone".

A flag flutters from a tree overlooking damage caused by a tornado in Harrisburg, Illinois

"The reports on the telephone were that Marysville is gone. I can't confirm any damage right there yet. We're just trying to concentrate on the more populated areas and we've been inundated with calls," he said.
A baby was found in a field in Salem, Indiana, about 10 miles (16km) north of New Pekin, where her family lives, said Melissa Richardson, spokeswoman at St Vincent Salem Hospital, where the little girl was initially taken.
The child is now in a critical condition at a hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, and authorities were still trying to figure out how she ended up alone in the field. Ms Richardson said she had so far been unable to identify the child or her family.

Dozens of houses were also damaged in Alabama and Tennessee, two days after storms killed 13 people in the Midwest region and the South.
Thousands of schoolchildren in several states were sent home as a precaution and several Kentucky universities were closed.
Emergency management officials said 40 homes had been destroyed and 100 others seriously damaged by tornadoes powering through two northern Alabama counties.
The states of Illinois and Missouri were also hit after swarms of twisters touched down.

The Alabama Emergency Management Agency said dozens of homes and businesses suffered damage in the southern state.
At least 20 homes were also badly damaged in the Chattanooga area of Tennessee after strong winds and hail lashed the region.
In the Tennessee town of Cleveland, Blaine Lawson and his wife Billie were watching the weather when the power went out and winds ripped the roof off their home.
"It just hit all at once," 76-year-old Blaine said.
"Didn't have no warning really. The roof, insulation and everything started coming down on us. It just happened so fast that I didn't know what to do. I was going to head to the closet but there was just no way. It just got us."

Residents comfort each other after severe weather hit Limestone County in Alabama

The mayor of Huntsville said students had taken shelter in hallways as severe weather hit in the morning. Several houses were levelled and five people were taken to hospital.
The extent of their injuries is not yet known and emergency crews are still surveying the damage.
A maximum security prison about 10 miles from Huntsville was also damaged by an apparent tornado but none of its 2,100 inmates escaped.
The roof was damaged on two large prison dormitories holding around 250 men and part of the perimeter fence was knocked down.
Authorities were confident that storms in Limestone and Madison were tornadoes but it will be up to the National Weather Service to confirm the twisters.
For residents and emergency services across Alabama, tornado precautions and clean-up operations are a familiar routine. Some 250 people were killed in twisters last April.

**Pedro Silva** Sat Mar 03, 2012 7:46 pm

the damages in buildings are bad, but the loss of life: terrible.

**lily** Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:22 pm

It is so sad. I really feel for all the people....... Sad

**bb1** Sun Mar 04, 2012 3:45 pm

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16182062

Toddler Found After Tornado Kills Her Family

Dozens Die As Tornado Swarms Hit The US 16182066

Whole communities have been devastated by the twisters

A two-year-old girl has been rescued from a field miles from her home where the rest of her family was killed in the string of deadly tornadoes that struck the US.

The toddler is in a critical condition in Kentucky after being found 10 miles from her home in southeast Indiana.
Her parents, a two-month-old sister and three-year-old brother were all killed before she was found, said Cis Gruebbel, a spokeswoman for Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville.
Indiana officials said four people died in Washington County, where the girl was found, but it was unclear whether they were her relatives.
Members of the child's extended family are with her the hospital, but it is not known how she ended up in the field or who found her.
At least 38 people have been killed across the Midwestern states of the US and hundreds more have been injured.

A school bus is lodged in a home in Henryville, Indiana

Deaths were reported in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama and Georgia as the storm system moved eastward.
Whole communities were wiped out as around 90 tornadoes struck on Friday.
President Barack Obama phoned the governors of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio to offer condolences for the dead and said the federal emergency management agency stood ready to help, the White House said.
"The scope and magnitude of devastation in some of our communities is unlike anything I have ever seen," said Kentucky governor Steve Beshear, whose office confirmed 19 fatalities from over a dozen tornadoes that had roared across the state.
Trucks and trees were upended as deadly funnel clouds ravaged the Midwest and South.
The devastating images included a school bus smashed through the wall of a house, trucks thrown into lakes, solid brick homes reduced to rubble and wooden ones smashed into kindling, as well as mobile homes flipped like tin cans.
About 300 injuries have been reported in Kentucky, according to Mr Beshear, who surveyed the damage in the devastated town of West Liberty.
There was damage in 40 counties, with power supplies to tens of thousands knocked out.
While the tornado watch has been discontinued, there have been warnings in some areas of a dramatic drop in temperatures.
Heavy snow could pose a challenge for the hundreds of people left without homes.

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Dozens Die As Tornado Swarms Hit The US

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