At least 20 dead in US storms

A deadly storm system rumbled across the southern US over the weekend where tornadoes and severe weather killed at least 20 people in three states.

A tornado devastated the depressed pollution-scarred mining town of Picher, Oklahoma. Many of its residents had already fled the town under a voluntary federal buyout following one of the worst environmental nightmares in the country.

But residents who have chosen to stay or have not yet relocated faced a new heartache when when a tornado ripped through a 20-block swath of Picher late on Saturday afternoon, killing at least seven people.

The same storm system then moved into south-west Missouri where tornadoes took the lives of at least 12 other people, authorities said.

Today storms rumbled across Georgia, killing at least one person in Dublin, about 120 miles south-east of Atlanta, authorities said. Weather officials had not yet confirmed whether the storms produced any tornadoes.

Georgia Power officials say at least 80,000 residents are without electricity across the state, mostly concentrated in the metro Atlanta area and the Macon area.

In Oklahoma, Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said Picher’s victims included an infant. He said at least three people were confirmed missing.

“We’ve seen homes that were completely levelled to the foundation,” Mr Brown said. “In a few of these homes you would have had to be subterranean to survive.”

Ottawa County Emergency Manager Frank Geasland said dozens of people were injured, some seriously.

“Trees are toppled over, ripped apart,” he said. “There are cars thrown everywhere. It looks like a bomb went off, pretty much.”

Mr Brown said 32 people were transported to Integris Baptist Hospital in the nearby town of Miami. Of those, 26 were treated and released.

Many families have moved away from Picher to escape the lead pollution left by mining operations. The town’s population has dwindled from a peak of roughly 20,000 to about 800 people.

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry issued a statement saying a major emergency response was under way. He planned to visit the area today.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Picher and all of the other Oklahoma communities that have been impacted by the latest wave of severe weather,” Mr Henry said.

At least 12 people were killed after severe storms spawned tornadoes and high winds across sections of south-western Missouri, the State Emergency Management Agency said. Ten of the dead were killed when a twister struck near Seneca, about 20 miles south-east of Picher, near the Oklahoma border.

“They’re going over the hard-hit area and turning over everything and looking,” SEMA spokeswoman Susie Stonner said of emergency workers’ search for victims and assessment of damage. “It’s hard to do in the dark.”

The number of injuries across the area was not immediately available, though The Joplin (Missouri) Globe reported that more than 90 people from that region were being treated at Joplin hospitals.

In storm-weary Arkansas, a tornado collapsed a home and a business, and there were reports of a few people trapped in buildings, said Weather Service meteorologist John Robinson.

The storms remained active into the night as they swept eastward, with watches and warnings abundant across a wide swath of the Plains and South.

Rescuers freed a man trapped in his vehicle in western Tennessee after a tree fell on it during thunderstorms, Memphis firefighters said.

Tornadoes killed 13 people in Arkansas on February 5, and another seven were killed in an outbreak May 2. In between was freezing weather, persistent rain and river flooding that damaged residences has slowed farmers in their planting.