Video captures tornado swirling across US state; over 100 feared dead in storm | VISUALS
As many as 100 people are feared dead after a swarm of tornadoes tore through the US heartland on Saturday, flattening buildings and setting off a scramble to find survivors beneath the rubble.
India Today Web Desk
Tornado sweeps across US states(L); Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees littered the ground in the tornado's wake (Credit: AP photo/Twitter)
As many as 100 people are feared dead after a swarm of tornadoes tore through the US heartland on Saturday, flattening buildings and setting off a scramble to find survivors beneath the rubble.
Saying the disaster was likely one of the largest tornado outbreaks in US history, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state of Kentucky, the hardest hit by the calamity.
The unseasonal stormfront devastated the small town of Mayfield it tore apart a candle factory, crushed a nursing home, derailed a train and smashed an Amazon warehouse. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said upwards of 70 may have been killed when a twister tore through the middle of the state, adding that the number may eventually 100 across 10 or more counties.
Emergency workers sifted through the wreckage left behind in the tornado’s wake. Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees littered the ground; twisted metal sheeting, downed power lines and wrecked vehicles lined the streets. Windows and roofs were blown off the buildings that were still standing.
About 40 workers had been rescued at the candle factory in Mayfield, which had about 110 people inside when it was reduced to a pile of rubble. It would be a "miracle" to find anyone else alive under the debris, Governor Beshear said.
"The devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my life and I have trouble putting it into words," Beshear said at a press conference.
‘LIKE A BIG BOMB EXPLODED’
Video and photos posted on social media showed brick buildings in downtown Mayfield flattened, with parked cars nearly buried under debris. The steeple on the historic Graves County courthouse was toppled and the nearby First United Methodist Church partially collapsed.
"We've got some siding and roof damage here, but just across the road there's a brewery that half of it is gone. It's just totally gone, like a big bomb exploded or something," Justin Shepherd, a coffee shop owner in Bowling Green, Kentucky, told Reuters.
Six people were killed in the collapse of the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, with another injured worker airlifted to a hospital, fire Chief James Whiteford said. Investigators searched the rubble throughout the day for additional victims and 45 people survived.
Governor Bill Lee on Saturday toured tornado-torn parts of western Tennessee in which four people had been killed.
In the neighbouring state of Arkansas, one person was killed and five seriously injured when a tornado tore through a nursing home with 90 beds in Monette.
Another person was killed when a twister destroyed a Dollar General Store and laid waste to much of the downtown area in Leachville, Arkansas. "It really sounded like a train roaring through town," said Lt. Chuck Brown of the Mississippi County Sheriff's Office.
‘A HISTORIC EVENT’
The genesis of the tornado outbreak was a series of overnight thunderstorms, including a super cell storm that formed in northeast Arkansas. That storm moved from Arkansas and Missouri and into Tennessee and Kentucky.
Unusually high temperatures and humidity created the environment for such an extreme weather event at this time of year, said Victor Gensini, a professor in geographic and atmospheric sciences at Northern Illinois University.
(With inputs from AP and Reuters)
As many as 100 people are feared dead after a swarm of tornadoes tore through the US heartland on Saturday, flattening buildings and setting off a scramble to find survivors beneath the rubble.
India Today Web Desk
December 12, 2021
Tornado sweeps across US states(L); Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees littered the ground in the tornado's wake (Credit: AP photo/Twitter)
As many as 100 people are feared dead after a swarm of tornadoes tore through the US heartland on Saturday, flattening buildings and setting off a scramble to find survivors beneath the rubble.
Saying the disaster was likely one of the largest tornado outbreaks in US history, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state of Kentucky, the hardest hit by the calamity.
The unseasonal stormfront devastated the small town of Mayfield it tore apart a candle factory, crushed a nursing home, derailed a train and smashed an Amazon warehouse. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said upwards of 70 may have been killed when a twister tore through the middle of the state, adding that the number may eventually 100 across 10 or more counties.
Emergency workers sifted through the wreckage left behind in the tornado’s wake. Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees littered the ground; twisted metal sheeting, downed power lines and wrecked vehicles lined the streets. Windows and roofs were blown off the buildings that were still standing.
About 40 workers had been rescued at the candle factory in Mayfield, which had about 110 people inside when it was reduced to a pile of rubble. It would be a "miracle" to find anyone else alive under the debris, Governor Beshear said.
"The devastation is unlike anything I have seen in my life and I have trouble putting it into words," Beshear said at a press conference.
‘LIKE A BIG BOMB EXPLODED’
Video and photos posted on social media showed brick buildings in downtown Mayfield flattened, with parked cars nearly buried under debris. The steeple on the historic Graves County courthouse was toppled and the nearby First United Methodist Church partially collapsed.
"We've got some siding and roof damage here, but just across the road there's a brewery that half of it is gone. It's just totally gone, like a big bomb exploded or something," Justin Shepherd, a coffee shop owner in Bowling Green, Kentucky, told Reuters.
Six people were killed in the collapse of the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, with another injured worker airlifted to a hospital, fire Chief James Whiteford said. Investigators searched the rubble throughout the day for additional victims and 45 people survived.
Governor Bill Lee on Saturday toured tornado-torn parts of western Tennessee in which four people had been killed.
In the neighbouring state of Arkansas, one person was killed and five seriously injured when a tornado tore through a nursing home with 90 beds in Monette.
Another person was killed when a twister destroyed a Dollar General Store and laid waste to much of the downtown area in Leachville, Arkansas. "It really sounded like a train roaring through town," said Lt. Chuck Brown of the Mississippi County Sheriff's Office.
‘A HISTORIC EVENT’
The genesis of the tornado outbreak was a series of overnight thunderstorms, including a super cell storm that formed in northeast Arkansas. That storm moved from Arkansas and Missouri and into Tennessee and Kentucky.
Unusually high temperatures and humidity created the environment for such an extreme weather event at this time of year, said Victor Gensini, a professor in geographic and atmospheric sciences at Northern Illinois University.
"This is an historic, if not generational event," Gensini said.
(With inputs from AP and Reuters)
"Tornadoes are nature's most violent storms"
A tornado rips through a residential area after touching down south of Wynnewood,
Oklahoma on May 9, 2016. (AFP/Josh Edelson)
Robin LEGRAND
Sat, December 11, 2021,
Tornadoes are a frequent and often devastating weather phenomenon most commonly seen in the United States, but meteorologists are still unable to say exactly how they originate.
"The US typically has more tornadoes than anywhere else in the world, though they can occur almost anywhere," according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Hardest hit are Great Plains states like Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, though they are also common in many other states, all east of the Rocky Mountains.
- Origins -
Scientists still struggle to pinpoint the precise way in which these powerful storms form.
"Much about tornadoes remains a mystery," according to the National Severe Storm Laboratory, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "They are rare, deadly and difficult to predict, and they can deal out millions or even billions of dollars in property damage per year."
What is known is that they generally result from so-called "supercell" thunderstorms characterized by extremely powerful updrafts, according to NOAA.
"Within the storm, a strong vertical wind shear causes a horizontally rotating cylinder of air. The updraft lifts the rotating cylinder within the supercell. The rotating cylinder of air narrows, becoming stretched, and spins faster and faster, forming a tornado."
The NWS notes: "Tornadoes develop extremely rapidly, and may dissipate just as quickly. Most tornadoes are on the ground for less than 15 minutes."
- Devastation -
"Tornadoes are nature's most violent storms," according to the NWS, with winds that can reach nearly 300 miles per hour (500 kph). They can wreak devastation on a path more than one mile wide and 50 miles long -- or longer.
The devastating tornado that killed dozens in Kentucky on December 11, 2021 stayed on the ground for 227 miles, said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. That would be a record, if confirmed.
On average, tornadoes claim 50 lives in the US each year, NOAA said.
The spring of 2011 brought the deadliest spate of tornadoes in recent history, with more than 580 people losing their lives in April and June. They caused damage estimated at $21 billion.
After a tornado passes, scientists evaluate its strength based on the damage inflicted and on measurements of wind speed.
They then classify it using the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, which assigns ratings from EF-0 to EF-5. EF-0 means "light" damage and wind gusts of 65 to 85 mph, while EF-5 signifies gusts of over 200 mph and "incredible" damage. (Before 2007, the original Fujita scale used ratings of F-0 to F-5.)
- Survivors' tales -
The NWS has gathered first-person accounts from tornado survivors like William, a resident of Smithville, Mississippi, who was at home "watching the news" when a powerful storm struck in 2011.
He heard a local meteorologist say "the storm was coming to Smithville and I just stood there watching, waiting, looking at the TV and thinking this isn't gonna happen.
"About 30 seconds later, the power went out and the entire house shook for a minute and then stopped and I thought it was over, so I was about to get up from my floor when the shaking began again and wouldn't stop this time. I felt the pressure drop and as the shaking got louder, I got worried.
"Then it felt like the house exploded. I woke up one hour and a half later in a field a quarter mile away from the house with cuts to my body and a deep cut to my head."
Michelle, a resident of the small Oklahoma town of Skiakook, survived a 1991 twister.
"The noises I heard during the tornado hit was indescribable. I do remember hearing nails squeak out of boards as they were being forced out...," she said.
"When it was all over, the tornado that hit our town was measured F4. It leveled several of the brick homes in that neighborhood...
"I have rheumatoid arthritis so the intense low pressure temporarily disabled me. I couldn't walk.
"It was the absolute most frightening experience I have ever been through."
rle/bbk/dw
Robin LEGRAND
Sat, December 11, 2021,
Tornadoes are a frequent and often devastating weather phenomenon most commonly seen in the United States, but meteorologists are still unable to say exactly how they originate.
"The US typically has more tornadoes than anywhere else in the world, though they can occur almost anywhere," according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Hardest hit are Great Plains states like Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, though they are also common in many other states, all east of the Rocky Mountains.
- Origins -
Scientists still struggle to pinpoint the precise way in which these powerful storms form.
"Much about tornadoes remains a mystery," according to the National Severe Storm Laboratory, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "They are rare, deadly and difficult to predict, and they can deal out millions or even billions of dollars in property damage per year."
What is known is that they generally result from so-called "supercell" thunderstorms characterized by extremely powerful updrafts, according to NOAA.
"Within the storm, a strong vertical wind shear causes a horizontally rotating cylinder of air. The updraft lifts the rotating cylinder within the supercell. The rotating cylinder of air narrows, becoming stretched, and spins faster and faster, forming a tornado."
The NWS notes: "Tornadoes develop extremely rapidly, and may dissipate just as quickly. Most tornadoes are on the ground for less than 15 minutes."
- Devastation -
"Tornadoes are nature's most violent storms," according to the NWS, with winds that can reach nearly 300 miles per hour (500 kph). They can wreak devastation on a path more than one mile wide and 50 miles long -- or longer.
The devastating tornado that killed dozens in Kentucky on December 11, 2021 stayed on the ground for 227 miles, said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. That would be a record, if confirmed.
On average, tornadoes claim 50 lives in the US each year, NOAA said.
The spring of 2011 brought the deadliest spate of tornadoes in recent history, with more than 580 people losing their lives in April and June. They caused damage estimated at $21 billion.
After a tornado passes, scientists evaluate its strength based on the damage inflicted and on measurements of wind speed.
They then classify it using the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, which assigns ratings from EF-0 to EF-5. EF-0 means "light" damage and wind gusts of 65 to 85 mph, while EF-5 signifies gusts of over 200 mph and "incredible" damage. (Before 2007, the original Fujita scale used ratings of F-0 to F-5.)
- Survivors' tales -
The NWS has gathered first-person accounts from tornado survivors like William, a resident of Smithville, Mississippi, who was at home "watching the news" when a powerful storm struck in 2011.
He heard a local meteorologist say "the storm was coming to Smithville and I just stood there watching, waiting, looking at the TV and thinking this isn't gonna happen.
"About 30 seconds later, the power went out and the entire house shook for a minute and then stopped and I thought it was over, so I was about to get up from my floor when the shaking began again and wouldn't stop this time. I felt the pressure drop and as the shaking got louder, I got worried.
"Then it felt like the house exploded. I woke up one hour and a half later in a field a quarter mile away from the house with cuts to my body and a deep cut to my head."
Michelle, a resident of the small Oklahoma town of Skiakook, survived a 1991 twister.
"The noises I heard during the tornado hit was indescribable. I do remember hearing nails squeak out of boards as they were being forced out...," she said.
"When it was all over, the tornado that hit our town was measured F4. It leveled several of the brick homes in that neighborhood...
"I have rheumatoid arthritis so the intense low pressure temporarily disabled me. I couldn't walk.
"It was the absolute most frightening experience I have ever been through."
rle/bbk/dw
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