Tornadoes strike central US, killing 2 in Oklahoma

Tornadoes strike central US, killing 2 in Oklahoma

A series of tornadoes ripped through the American heartland Sunday, killing at least a dozen people in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and destroying a firehouse and scores of homes.

Ferocious twisters cut swaths of destruction through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas — near the Joplin, Mo., area where a catastrophic tornado killed 158 people in May 2011.

In Arkansas, 11 people were reported dead, a spokesman for Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said early Monday morning.

The death toll was expected to rise as rescue workers searched the widespread wreckage.

One funnel cloud reportedly measured a half-mile wide as it damaged and toppled 18-wheelers, cars and trucks on a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 40, a major thoroughfare in and out of Little Rock, Arkansas’ capital city.

“It turned pitch black,” said Mark Ausbrooks, who was at his parents’ home in Mayflower, Ark., when the storm arrived. “I ran and got pillows to put over our heads and ... all hell broke loose.”

“My parents’ home, it’s gone completely,” he said.

A tornado hit Quapaw, Okla., killing one. The twister destroyed a fire station and caused heavy damage to the north side of the small town near the Kansas and Missouri border, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. 

The storm rotated into a tornado within minutes and provided little warning to residents, reported a Tulsa television station, KOTV. The storm damaged several homes, aerial footage shows, and at least five people were injured, the TV station reported.

“It was here before anybody knew it,” said one Quapaw firefighter. “We did the best we could.

“We didn’t have much opportunity to warn other people. I don’t know what else we could have done.”

Officials said the twister left a path destruction 2 miles long in Quapaw, bowling over homes, uprooting trees and toppling power lines.

The storms continue to move across the U.S. and sparked additional reports of a tornado in Baxter Spring, Kan.

Baxter Springs resident Bill Kapler also said he feared for his life.

“I pushed my wife down on the floor and got on top of her,” Kapler told The Joblin Globe. “It didn’t last very long. We got up, and it was ‘Oh my gosh.’ ”

Shawn Martin, also of Baxter Springs, said he heard the tornado roaring like a freight train.

“It was like a constant thunder,” Martin told the Globe. “You could see it hit the buildings, and then you saw the debris flying through the air.”

A preliminary report suggests the storm may have been a series of multiple tornadoes that covered more than 80 miles in White, Faulkner, Independence and Jackson counties, according to the National Weather Service's Little Rock office.

At least 70 homes and 25 businesses were destroyed in the twisters that hit Kansas, a preliminary report from the Kansas Division of Emergency Management showed.

The severe weather events will not be confirmed as tornadoes until a team of National Weather Service meteorologists visit the damage in the morning and determine the F-Scale, said Susan Cobb of NOAA to the Daily News on Sunday night.

There have been additional reports of suspected tornadoes making brief touchdowns in areas of Iowa and Nebraska, according to the Storm Prediction Center’s website, in addition to reports of hail and strong winds uprooting trees and blowing down power polls in Iowa and Illinois.

The storm system on Sunday is not to be confused with another series of storms that hit eastern North Carolina on Friday and claimed the life of a baby.

The child was critically injured during a storm that destroyed a century-old home in Edenton. The roof collapsed on the mother trying to shield the 11-month-old boy but she was hit by a wood stove and trapped by a support beam. 

The mother’s screams were heard by rescuers who dug out the mother and her son, identified as Gavin Soto, but the child died at a hospital, reported WAVY-TV.

“I understand the mother did everything she could to protect the baby,” said Gov. Pat McCrory as he toured the damage on Sunday.

“If you saw the house — it just fell on top of the family,” McCrory added.

Meteorologists expected the strong storms on Sunday to intensify during the evening and hit anywhere from the great plains to Missouri to Mississippi Valley.