Storms kill at least 12 in 3 states

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Ill.

A pre-dawn twister flattened entire blocks of homes in a small Illinois town Wednesday as violent storms ravaged the Midwest and South, killing at least 12 people in three states.

Winds also ripped through the country- music mecca of Branson, Mo., damaging some of the city’s famous theaters just days before the start of the busy tourist season.

The tornado that blasted Harrisburg in southern Illinois, killing six, was an EF4, the second-highest rating given to twisters based on damage. Scientists said it was 200 yards wide with winds up to 170 mph.

By midday, townspeople in the community of 9,000 were sorting through piles of debris and remembering their dead while the winds still howled around them.

The twister that raked Branson seemed to hopscotch up the city’s main roadway, moving from side to side.

At least 37 people were reported hurt, but most suffered only cuts and bruises. After the start of Branson’s peak season in mid-March, up to 60,000 visitors would have been in hotels on any given day.

Just six guests were staying at J.R.’s Motor Inn, and all of them escaped injury by taking refuge in bathtubs. Engineers deemed the building a total loss after the second floor, the roof and all windows were destroyed.

At the 530-room downtown Hilton, intense winds sucked furniture away. Hotel workers were able to get all guests to safety.

In Missouri, one person was killed in a trailer park in the town of Buffalo, about 35 miles north of Springfield. Two more fatalities were reported in the Cassville and Puxico areas.

Three people were reported killed in eastern Tennessee — two in Cumberland County and another in DeKalb County as storms collapsed homes and downed power lines there.

The tornado that barreled through the tiny eastern Kansas town of Harveyville was an EF-2, with wind speeds of 120 to 130 mph, state officials said. It left much of the community in rubble.

The twisters were spawned by a powerful storm system that blew down from the Rockies on Tuesday and was headed toward the East Coast. Authorities were sending teams to investigate today to determine if tornadoes were involved in Tennessee.

Corey Mead, lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said a broad cold front was slamming into warm, humid air over much of the eastern half of the nation.

The violent weather also lashed parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky, where three buildings belonging to an Elizabethtown trucking company were heavily damaged.

The Midwest and South were to get a reprieve from the menacing weather today, ahead of another strong system expected Friday.