US twisters strike again

ANOTHER round of volatile spring weather spread tornadoes and heavy rain across the US midwest and south yesterday as some communities were still trying to recover from the weekend twisters that killed 40 people.

A tornado struck homes early yesterday in northern Louisiana and possible twisters were reported in Arkansas and Mississippi.

The National Weather Service posted tornado warnings for parts of Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Two people were killed by a pair of twisters on Tuesday in rural southern Illinois that also injured more than 20 people and destroyed or damaged dozens of homes.

Brenda Crockett, who lives near the small town of Mermet, Illinois, said she made it to her basement just before the first tornado hit, then emerged a few minutes later to find her house had been levelled and the second tornado was bearing down on her.

“There was nothing for me to do except lie down and grab the grass,” she said.

The death toll from Sunday’s violent weather reached 18 in Missouri with the discovery of a child’s body outside Pierce City on Tuesday, and rose to 15 in Tennessee after a man was found dead in a field.

The storms also were blamed for at least seven deaths in Kansas. One person was still listed as missing in Pierce City.

More showers and thunderstorms were likely in southwest Missouri last night and again statewide today.

Yesterday morning at Downsville, Louisiana, a tornado damaged or destroyed about a dozen mobile homes.

At about the same time, a possible tornado caused scattered damage in southeastern Arkansas, and three to five inches of rain caused street flooding, local officials said. Several families were evacuated from an Arkadelphia apartment building because of high water.

Earlier Wednesday, a possible tornado injured two people and destroyed five mobile homes in a rural area of northeast Mississippi, said Amy Carruth of the state Emergency Management Agency.