WORLD_ At least 70 die as storms rip through US

At least 70 die as storms rip through US

AAP
April 28, 2011, 4:21 pm


Tornadoes hit US: 70 dead
Deadly tornadoes have flattened buildings as they tear through America's southern and central states.

Deadly tornadoes have flattened buildings and overturned vehicles as they tear through America's southern and central states, killing at least 70 people.

Forty-five people were killed in Alabama alone on Wednesday, authorities told Agence France-Presse, while the Associated Press reported that 61 people were killed in the southern state - including 15 in the city of Tuscaloosa when a massive tornado barrelled through the area.

US President Barack Obama said he had spoken with Alabama Governor Robert Bentley and approved his request for emergency federal assistance, including search and rescue assets.

"Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation, and we commend the heroic efforts of those who have been working tirelessly to respond to this disaster," Obama said in a statement on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service (NWS) had preliminary reports of more than 110 tornado touchdowns between 1200 GMT Wednesday and 0200 GMT Thursday (2200 AEST Wednesday and 1200 AEST Thursday), as the storm tore through the central and southern part of the country.

States of emergency were declared in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma, and governors called out the National Guard to help with rescue and cleanup operations.

Alabama was hit by two lines of storms that killed at least 25 people over 24 hours, Yasamie August from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency told AFP.

In Tuscaloosa, news footage showed paramedics lifting a child out of a flattened home, with many neighbouring buildings in the city of more than 83,000 also reduced to rubble.

A hospital there said its emergency room had admitted about 100 people but had treated some 400.

"What we faced today was massive damage on a scale we have not seen in Tuscaloosa in quite some time," Mayor Walter Maddox told reporters, adding that he expected his city's death toll to rise.

A tornado hit Alabama's biggest city, Birmingham, earlier in the day and officials were still assessing the damage, August said.

"This has been a very serious and deadly event that's affected our state, and it's not over yet," Alabama's governor, Bentley, told reporters after the second string of storms.

Further north, a nuclear power plant west of Huntsville lost power and was operating on diesel generators.

The storm system spread destruction on Tuesday night and Wednesday from Texas to Georgia, and it was forecast to hit the Carolinas next before moving further northeast.

The severe weather has killed 11 people in Mississippi, flash floods and a series of tornadoes have killed at least 11 in Arkansas, and another three have been killed in Missouri and Tennessee, according to state officials.

Other reports said four people were killed in Georgia.

The NWS issued a rare "high-risk" warning of tornadoes, hail, flash flooding and dangerous lightning for parts of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

It warned that severe weather could also strike 21 states from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf Coast and across to the Atlantic.

Tornadoes were reported as far east as Virginia and Maryland, where they touched down near Washington, DC without injuring anyone.

Storm victims across the region were trapped in homes, caravans and cars by falling trees.

Hail the size of golf balls cracked windows.

Roads were washed out or rendered impassable by fallen trees and power lines across the region. Homes, schools and businesses were flattened, flooded and set on fire by lightning.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in Missouri after levees failed to hold back swollen rivers.

The skies are not expected to clear until late Thursday or Friday, and there will be little time to mop up, as another major storm system is forecast to bring heavy rain and high winds on Saturday.

The storms come after a wet spring and a winter of heavy snowfall which left the ground saturated and rivers running high.