Five killed in US tornadoes

Storms battered the Tennessee and Ohio valleys with tornadoes, high wind and hail before the system swept east.

At least five deaths were blamed on the storms last night, including a 12-year-old boy who was catapulted from his bed.

The system’s leading edge unleashed a tornado in southern Maryland, authorities said. Two people were killed and at least 42 were being treated for injuries ranging from minor to serious at Civista Medical Centre in LaPlata, said chief executive Chris Stefanides.

The twister cut a path through the centre of LaPlata, ripping roofs off buildings and blowing out windows, said Nina Voehl, a Charles County spokeswoman. A curfew was put into effect to keep people off the streets.

The hospital itself was hit by the twister, Stefanides said. Winds blew out windows, but hospital workers had enough notice to move patients to safe areas, she said.

‘‘It just started tearing up everything,’’ said Shawn Murphy, who was delivering pizzas when he saw the funnel cloud.

On the system’s northern edge, up to 20 inches of snow fell overnight in Wisconsin. At its peak, the storm left 40,000 people without power in northern Wisconsin. Half were still without power last night.

A tornado cut a four-mile swath through Marble Hill, Missouri, south of St. Louis, early Sunday and swept a family from their home. Billy Hoover, 12, was dropped about 40 yards away and died, authorities said. The four others in the house walked away unscathed.

The tornado, packing winds up to 180mph, injured 16 people, smashed vehicles and bent semitrailers in half before racing east, said meteorologist Jim Packett of the weather service’s office in Paducah, Kentucky.

High wind sweeping across southern Illinois yesterday destroyed or damaged several homes about 20 miles north of the Kentucky border. The body of Janie Chamness, 69, was found outside her mobile home, said Robbie McGee, a dispatcher with the Union County Sheriff’s Department.

About 25 houses and trailer homes were damaged or destroyed and more than two dozen people suffered mostly minor injuries.

Tony Kaufman said he and his family sought shelter in the basement. ‘‘When I worked up the courage to come upstairs I saw that the wind had sucked the dishes out of my kitchen cupboards,’’ he said.

In Tennessee, tornadoes left at least 18 people injured near Murfreesboro and damaged more than 60 homes in the area.

In western Kentucky, straight-line wind destroyed a house, killing a man, said Barry Hart, director of Breckinridge County Emergency Management. A woman found in the wreckage was taken to a hospital, he said.

More than 35,000 customers of Wisconsin Public Service Corp. were without power yesterday in northern Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation reported. In Minnesota, Xcel Energy spokeswoman Mary Sandok said 57,000 customers lost power during the night. Power had been mostly restored by today.

Authorities in Minnesota said the snow was a factor in at least four traffic deaths.

In Ohio, thunderstorms with high wind and hail the size of golf balls damaged rooftops and cars. In central Virginia, high wind felled trees and toppled a church steeple, destroying an estimated 50 homes.