VAN, Texas (AP) — Emergency responders searched through wreckage in parts of Texas and Arkansas early Monday after a line of tornadoes battered several small communities, killing a young couple whose daughter survived and injuring dozens of others.
At daybreak, as many as 10 people were still missing, raising the possibility that the number of dead could climb.
The couple in their late 20s or early 30s died when a twister hit their mobile home late Sunday in the Arkansas town of Nashville, Howard County Coroner John Gray said.
Their daughter was 1 or 2 years old. He did not release the parents' names.
Once the word spreads, he added, it will be a sad week for the community.
"That's what it's like in a small town," Gray said. "You either know them or you know somebody who knows them."
Howard County Sheriff Brian McJunkins told KLSA-TV that two other people in the town about 50 miles north of Texarkana were critically hurt.
In neighboring Texas, a likely tornado pummeled the small city of Van. Chuck Allen, the fire marshal and emergency management coordinator for Van Zandt County, said about 30 percent of the community was damaged.
Preliminary reports indicate 20 to 25 tornadoes formed Sunday in South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas, according to meteorologist Greg Carbin of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The storm system was expected to slowly move east, he said, with a low possibility for tornadoes in lower Michigan on Monday. Thunderstorms were forecast from Texas to the Great Lakes region.
"This is certainly not an atypical system for spring where you've got the remnants of winter but the onset of summer," Carbin said.
In Van, 10 adults were unaccounted for and 26 had been taken to hospitals. The extent of their injuries was not immediately clear. About 50 people stayed overnight at a church shelter, Allen said Monday at a news conference.
The damage ranged "from completely destroyed homes, damaged homes, to trees and power lines down," Allen said in an email to The Associated Press.
Dave Birks, girls' basketball coach at South Central Calhoun High School, said people were able to flee to the basement and locker room area about two minutes before the twister arrived.
"The lights went off, and everyone's ears kind of popped," Birks said, adding that school windows were blown out and insulation was scattered nearby. He also said the high jump pit from the school's outdoor athletic complex was missing, and hurdles were scattered everywhere.
Much earlier Sunday, storms struck the small town of Delmont in South Dakota, hurting nine people.
"Our house is flat. There is nothing left," said Stephanie Lunder, 34, who took shelter with her husband and four children in the basement.
The town's 200-plus residents were asked to leave for safety reasons, state Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Kristi Turman said. They were to be allowed back on Monday to assess their property.
Elsewhere, winter seemed to return briefly to parts of the Dakotas.
The National Weather Service posted winter weather advisories and warnings for southeastern North Dakota and north-central South Dakota, with a couple of inches of snow and strong winds expected. The same area experienced more than 8 inches of snow over the weekend, breaking snowfall records for those dates in Rapid City.
On Sunday, another likely tornado ripped roofs off buildings and damaged trees near Denton, about 40 miles northwest of Dallas. There were no reports of injuries or fatalities.
Torrential rains led to widespread flash flooding. Authorities in Denton County said two groups of people had to be taken by helicopter to safety.
___
Associated Press writers Kelly P. Kissel and Allen Reed in Little Rock contributed to this report.
0 comments:
Post a Comment