Tornados wreak destruction in US midwest

A series of tornados today swept through the midwest United States, killing as many as 19 people and leaving a path of destruction a quarter-mile wide in some places.

In Missouri, Lawrence County Sheriff Doug Seneker estimated a dozen people were killed when a tornado careened through the south west part of the state. A Pierce City police officer described the downtown area as “wiped out”, Mr Seneker said.

Two women were reported dead in nearby Greene and Christian counties, said Dave Brown, an investigator for the Greene County Medical Examiner’s Office. One of the women was killed near Battlefield in Christian County and the other in rural Greene County.

In Kansas, Colonel Joy Moser of the state’s emergency management office, said her agency confirmed four deaths in Girard and Franklin in Crawford County and one in Wyandotte County in the Kansas City area.