Tennessee hit hard as 27 die amidst US tornado terror

THUNDERSTORMS packing tornadoes and hail as big as grapefruits ripped through eight mid-western states, killing at least 27 people, injuring scores and destroying hundreds of homes.

Tennessee was hit hardest, with tornadoes striking five western counties yesterday and killing 23 people, including an infant and a family of four.

Most of the deaths were along a 25-mile path stretching from Newbern, about 80 miles northeast of Memphis, to Bradford, officials said.

The Highway Patrol sent teams with search dogs to the area today to check what remained of homes and businesses for anyone who might be trapped in the rubble.

Severe thunderstorms, many producing tornadoes, also struck parts of Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Strong wind was blamed for at least three deaths in Missouri.

A clothing store collapsed in southern Illinois, killing one man. The weather service’s Storm Prediction Centre in Norman, Oklahoma, said it had preliminary reports of 63 tornadoes.

Tennessee officials estimated 1,200 buildings were damaged in one county alone, and Newbern alderman Robert Hart said witnesses described the tornado that hit his town as being “almost a mile wide.”

About a half-dozen tornadoes struck Arkansas and one destroyed nearly half of the town of Marmaduke, according to a fire department official.