ReportWire

Tag: Tornadoes

  • One dead after reported tornado in south Texas near U.S.-Mexico border

    One dead after reported tornado in south Texas near U.S.-Mexico border

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    Authorities say one person is dead following a reported tornado in south Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border

    BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Authorities say one person is dead following a reported tornado early Saturday morning in south Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Port Isabel Police Chief Robert Lopez reported one person killed when the storm struck the unincorporated community of Laguna Heights about 4 a.m. Saturday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Angelica Soria in Brownsville.

    Police referred questions to the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office, which declined to comment.

    Cameron County Emergency Management officials did not return a phone call for comment.

    Soria said a weather service investigator was assessing damage to confirm if the damage and death were caused by a tornado.

    The storm follows an outbreak of dozens of tornadoes in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado that caused damage but no reported deaths,

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  • Immigration experts on Title 42, analysis of immigration policies, and other migrant news in the Immigration Channel

    Immigration experts on Title 42, analysis of immigration policies, and other migrant news in the Immigration Channel

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    Title 42, the United States pandemic rule that had been used to immediately deport hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed the border illegally over the last three years, has expired. Those migrants will have the opportunity to apply for asylum. President Biden’s new rules to replace Title 42 are facing legal challenges. The US Homeland Security Department announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, to qualify for asylum. Border crossings have already risen sharply, as many migrants attempted to cross before the measure expired on Thursday night. Some have said they worry about tighter controls and uncertainty ahead. Immigration is once again a major focus of the media as we examine the humanitarian, political, and public health issues migrants must face. 

    Below are some of the latest headlines in the Immigration channel on Newswise.

    Expert Commentary

    Experts Available on Ending of Title 42

    George Washington University Experts on End of Title 42

    ‘No one wins when immigrants cannot readily access healthcare’

    URI professor discusses worsening child labor in the United States

    Biden ‘between a rock and a hard place’ on immigration

    University of Notre Dame Expert Available to Comment on House Bill Regarding Immigration Legislation, Border Safety and Security Act

    American University Experts Available to Discuss President Biden’s Visit to U.S.-Mexico Border

    Title 42 termination ‘overdue’, not ‘effective’ to manage migration

    Research and Features

    Study: Survey Methodology Should Be Calibrated to Account for Negative Attitudes About Immigrants and Asylum-Seekers

    A study analyses racial discrimination in job recruitment in Europe

    DACA has not had a negative impact on the U.S. job market

    ASBMB cautions against drastic immigration fee increases

    Study compares NGO communication around migration

    Collaboration, support structures needed to address ‘polycrisis’ in the Americas

    TTUHSC El Paso Faculty Teach Students While Caring for Migrants

    Immigrants Report Declining Alcohol Use during First Two Years after Arriving in U.S.

    How asylum seeker credibility is assessed by authorities

    Speeding up and simplifying immigration claims urgently needed to help with dire situation for migrants experiencing homelessness

    Training Individuals to Work in their Communities to Reduce Health Disparities

    ‘Regulation by reputation’: Rating program can help combat migrant abuse in the Gulf

    Migration of academics: Economic development does not necessarily lead to brain drain

    How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected immigration?

    Immigrants with Darker Skin Tones Perceive More Discrimination

     

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  • Tornadoes in Virginia and Florida, flooding in other states

    Tornadoes in Virginia and Florida, flooding in other states

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    VIRGINIA BEACH, Va — Officials in Virginia, Maine, and Florida are assessing damage Monday from major storms over the weekend, including some that caused power outages and wrecked homes.

    The City of Virginia Beach declared a state of emergency after a tornado moved through the area and damaged over 100 buildings, downed trees and caused gas leaks.

    The National Weather Service’s Wakefield, Virginia, office confirmed Monday morning that the tornado was rated at EF-3, with wind estimates of 140 mph (225 kph) to 150 mph (240 kph). It pushed well-built homes off foundations, collapsed exterior walls, and tore entire roofs off according to an agency statement.

    No injuries were reported.

    One family escaped injuries by reacting to a weather alert that came less than a minute before the tornado hit.

    “It just happened suddenly,” Lori Camper said. “The whole thing lasted 10 seconds.”

    She and her visiting daughter looked out the window and saw the trees bending in the wind and ran. The family, including Camper’s grandchildren, aged 2 years and 5 weeks, as well as two dogs, ran into a stairwell — the only place without windows.

    “Then all the windows blew out in the kitchen and sucked everything out of the kitchen and a tree fell through the roof,” Camper said. “And now one side of the house is leaning.”

    She hadn’t experienced a tornado that strong in the 19 years she had lived there.

    “I’m grateful,” she said. “God took care of us.”

    Virginia Beach Director of Emergency Management David Topczynski said Monday that the city got lucky because the storm came in Sunday during a music festival, when an emergency operation center was already set up, allowing for a swift response. He said 115 damaged structures were identified Sunday, and more are expected to be logged Monday.

    Virginia Beach’s weekend storms are generally associated with the same large-scale area of low pressure over the Great Lakes, NWS Meteorologist Eric Seymour said by telephone.

    The agency confirmed another tornado over the weekend in Florida in a weekend filled with hazardous weather across the U.S., including high water on the Mississippi River which tested flood defenses in Iowa and Illinois as it crests in the area Monday.

    In Maine, heavy rain and powerful wind gusts knocked out power for more than 50,000 homes and businesses on Monday morning. The wind gusted to 70 mph (115 kph) on Sunday near Matinicus Island, about 20 miles offshore, and to 65 mph (100 kph) onshore in Bath, where Navy shipbuilder Bath Iron Works has numerous cranes. Rainfall approaching 5 inches (13 centimeters) led to flood warnings on several rivers in parts of southern Maine.

    Virginia Natural Gas responded to several homes with gas leaks and Dominion Energy was reporting about 250 outages around Virginia Beach on Monday morning.

    The tornado touched down in the area of River Road and North Great Neck Road, Virginia Beach officials said in a social media post. Based on public safety patrols and resident reports the city said more than a dozen homes along Upper Chelsea Reach and Haversham Close were damaged.

    Great Neck Road will remain closed between Cox High School and the bridge at Adam Keeling Road until further notice to allow for crews to remove debris, the city said.

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  • Tornado flips cars, damages homes in coastal Florida city

    Tornado flips cars, damages homes in coastal Florida city

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    A tornado touched down in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with 100 mph winds that overturned cars, snapped trees and damaged homes

    PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — A tornado touched down in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Saturday as a powerful storm system brought intense rain and powerful winds to the state, overturning cars, damaging homes and snapping tree branches.

    The National Weather Service in Miami said the tornado hit late Saturday afternoon with winds of 100 mph (160 kph) near Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and headed northeast toward the coast.

    Storm damage forced authorities in the coastal city to close major roadways as workers cleared debris and inspected wreckage. Images from the scene showed cars flipped over on top of each other, cracked tree limbs resting on vehicles and homes, as well as other debris littering streets.

    The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department has not reported any major injuries or fatalities. A spokeswoman for the city said officials have deactivated emergency protocols and were working through lingering issues Sunday.

    The National Weather Service had placed a large stretch of central Florida under a tornado watch on Saturday afternoon as thunderstorms were cutting across the state.

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  • Tracking storms as they move across the U.S.

    Tracking storms as they move across the U.S.

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    Tracking storms as they move across the U.S. – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    A low-pressure system is bringing the possibility of tornadoes to Texas while baseball-sized hail could strike Florida. The Weather Channel meteorologist Chris Warren has the forecast.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


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  • At least two killed as tornadoes, severe storms sweep through central U.S.

    At least two killed as tornadoes, severe storms sweep through central U.S.

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    Rain-wrapped tornado in Cole, Oklahoma
    A general view shows damage during a rain-wrapped tornado in Cole, Oklahoma, on April 19, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. 

    HANS DURAN via Reuters


    Strong storms including tornadoes, winds and hail moved through parts of the central U.S. on Wednesday, killing at least two people, causing injuries, destroying homes and leaving thousands without power.

    The National Weather Service began issuing tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings Wednesday evening in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa, with forecasters warning people to find shelter.

    Central Oklahoma saw multiple tornadoes, including one that raced through the communities of Cole and Shawnee Wednesday night.

    Authorities said at least two people were killed in Cole, a small town in McClain County some 25 miles south of Oklahoma City, and there were injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to some requiring hospitalization, although the numbers weren’t immediately clear as hundreds of people fanned out in search operations.

    A McClain County sheriff’s deputy told CBS Oklahoma City affiliate KWTV that, based on the damage he was seeing in Cole and the area around it, it was reasonable to expect more fatalities.

    But the station noted that a 90-year-old grandmother made it through even though a twister hit her home in Shawnee.

    A KWTV helicopter lost its windshield as a tornado hit. Caution: The language used by the pilot is salty:

    It apparently was able to land.

    Power lines also were torn down, trees toppled and homes and other buildings badly damaged or destroyed. Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and an airport were damaged before the tornado moved off and weakened. The school canceled Thursday and Friday classes.  

    At the peak of the severe weather, more than 23,000 customers were without electricity throughout Oklahoma, according to poweroutage.us. The number was about 20,000 early Thursday morning.

    oklahoma-hail-041923.jpg
    Someone holds hailstones in Yukon, Oklahoma, on April 19, 2023 in picture obtained from social medis.

    Brent Wilcox via Reuters


    KFOR-TV reported that residents south of Oklahoma City reported being trapped in their shelters underground, mailboxes were blown away and emergency crews used GPS to find addresses, according to the McClain County sheriff.

    Two people in Cole rode out the storm in a manhole and weren’t hurt, KFOR reported.

    Storms this spring have spawned tornadoes in the South, Midwest and Northeast, killing dozens of people.

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  • 2 dead as severe storms, tornadoes move through central U.S.

    2 dead as severe storms, tornadoes move through central U.S.

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    Strong storms including tornadoes, winds and hail have moved through parts of the Central U.S., killing at least two people, causing injuries, destroying homes and leaving thousands without power

    COLE, Okla. — Strong storms including tornadoes, winds and hail moved through parts of the Central U.S. on Wednesday, killing at least two people, causing injuries, destroying homes and leaving thousands without power.

    The National Weather Service began issuing tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings Wednesday evening in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa with forecasters warning people to find shelter.

    Central Oklahoma saw multiple tornadoes, including one that raced through the communities of Shawnee and Cole Wednesday night.

    Authorities said at least two people were killed in the small town of Cole in McClain County and there also were injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to some requiring hospitalization, although the numbers weren’t immediately clear as hundreds of people fanned out in search operations.

    Power lines also were torn down, trees toppled and homes and other buildings badly damaged or destroyed. Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and an airport received damage before the tornado moved off and weakened.

    At the peak of the severe weather, more than 23,000 customers were without electricity throughout Oklahoma, according to poweroutage.us.

    KFOR-TV reported that residents south of Oklahoma City reported being trapped in their shelters underground, mailboxes were blown away and emergency crews used GPS to find addresses, according to the McClain County sheriff.

    Two people in the town of Cole rode out the storm in a manhole and were not hurt, the television station reported.

    Storms this spring have spawned tornadoes in the South, Midwest and Northeast, killing dozens of people.

    Cole is 25 miles (41 km) south of Oklahoma City.

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  • Mississippi city faces tough road rebuilding after tornado

    Mississippi city faces tough road rebuilding after tornado

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    ROLLING FORK, Miss. — The scent of the Mississippi Delta’s soil took hold of Charlie Weissinger’s psyche at an early age, and he has chased it ever since.

    Weissinger, 37, works at a bank to support his farming addiction in Rolling Fork, where his family has grown cotton, corn, soybeans, rice or wheat since 1902.

    “It’s something about the lifestyle, of being able to watch something that you’re able to create from start to finish,” he said. ”It’s so strange that you can do everything right, and then Mother Nature can take it away. And so it’s a constant battle of man’s will versus Mother Nature, of trying to see how well you can do in the face of adversity.”

    Weissinger’s farm was mostly spared when a deadly tornado tore through Rolling Fork last month as it carved a path of destruction through parts of western and northern Mississippi. But many in the predominantly Black farming community weren’t as fortunate.

    The twister killed 13 of Rolling Fork’s roughly 1,700 residents, destroyed about 300 homes and businesses and laid waste to entire blocks, leaving many to wonder whether their small-town bonds and shared heritage will be enough to convince one another to stay and try to rebuild.

    Rolling Fork has a proud history, claiming blues legend Muddy Waters as a native son and a role in the invention of the teddy bear, after President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a restrained bear during a 1902 hunting trip.

    But the city and surrounding Sharkey County are in one of the country’s poorest regions and were already facing tough economic challenges before the March 24 tornado lashed the community with 200 mph (320 kph) winds, closing down nearly every local business. Volatile agricultural markets and a lack of jobs and new industry have kept Sharkey’s poverty rate at around 35%, nearly double Mississippi’s roughly 19% rate and triple the nation’s nearly 12% rate.

    “We want to keep our Blues heritage. We still want to see some Rolling Fork when it’s rebuilt,” local Travis Gully said as he walked down a hard-hit street near the roughly 135-year-old Rolling Fork Methodist Church a few days after the tornado hit. “We are the home of Muddy Waters. We are the home of the teddy bear. We want to see the bottle trees in our yards to remind people of our rich heritage.”

    The destruction can seem unquantifiable to weary residents who have been working alongside a network of volunteers every day since the tornado to sort through mounds of rubble. Some homes were lifted off the ground by their foundations. A bear statue commemorating Roosevelt’s visit still stands in the heart of downtown, but the twister left its mark on hundreds of structures, including schools, clinics and the local hospital.

    The community has pulled together, but the tornado stacked longstanding challenges on top of newer ones, such as high inflation and rising interest rates. In a rebuilt Rolling Fork, residents want more jobs, better infrastructure and a fighting chance to keep people from fleeing.

    “What in the hell are we going to do? That’s all I can think,” Willard Miller, a 73-year-old lifelong resident, said from his driveway as he looked out on his mangled neighborhood. “There’s a lot of young people, they ain’t coming back. And they have no reason to other than this is their hometown and their parents are probably here.”

    Jerry Stevens owned the Cloverfield Laundromat in downtown Rolling Fork for 20 years. Its walls were blown away, but its 26 washers and dryers remain planted to the ground. Even if he rebuilds, he isn’t sure if many of his old customers will follow suit.

    “I’m scared a lot of the building won’t come because inflation is so high right now,” Stevens said. “Interest rates on loans are really high. I’m thinking when they get their insurance checks, they may just go somewhere else and buy a house that is already standing.”

    Rolling Fork has been tested by the elements before. The effects of economic stagnation have been compounded by repeated bouts of heavy rainfall that turn tame backwaters into flooded terrain. In a wet season, water can overtop levees and spill onto fertile soil, swallowing whatever ill-fated crops lie beneath.

    In 2019, the worst flooding in the area since 1973 drove some from their homes. But the city now faces a rebuilding effort unlike any it has undertaken.

    President Joe Biden, who toured the devastation, approved a disaster declaration for the state, freeing up federal funds for temporary housing, home repairs and loans to cover uninsured property losses. But there is concern about how the aid will be spent.

    “The citizens have lost everything,” said Calvin Stewart, a five-term alderman representing the city’s first ward. “With all the funds people are trying to bring into the city, I need to make sure those funds get to the most impacted folks.”

    The influx of federal funds comes with Mississippi embroiled in its largest-ever corruption case. A welfare scandal has exposed how millions of dollars intended for the state’s neediest people were instead diverted to the rich and powerful.

    Amid a current of distrust, communities that have strong social and civic institutions before disasters strike do a better job of allocating relief funds and retaining residents, said David Peters, a professor of rural sociology at Iowa State University.

    “When natural disasters like tornadoes or floods hit, communities take two different trajectories,” Peters said. “Communities where there’s strong social capital are fairly resilient. The problem is, those rural communities are fairly rare. In communities that have an absence of social capital, federal monies are mismanaged. And most often, people leave.”

    Tasmin Bee, a teacher, is among those who plan to stay, even though the storm blew the roof off the home she bought in August. With Rolling Fork’s schools closed, she said she has to take her five children out of town to keep them busy.

    “There is nothing here for kids. You don’t even have a YMCA,” Bee said. They got a city pool, but it’s small. They had a baseball park. If you want to take the kids to the arcade or something like to have a good time, you’ve got to travel.”

    When Charlie Weissinger, the banker-farmer, needs a place to take his two sons, he brings them to the patch of farmland that has had its hooks in him for as long as he can remember.

    “My boys can decide to go anywhere in the world they want to,” Weissinger said. “But I get them down here, and they get a smell of the dirt. It will follow them for the rest of their lives.”

    ___

    Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mikergoldberg.

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  • Mississippi city faces tough road rebuilding after tornado

    Mississippi city faces tough road rebuilding after tornado

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    ROLLING FORK, Miss. — The scent of the Mississippi Delta’s soil took hold of Charlie Weissinger’s psyche at an early age, and he has chased it ever since.

    Weissinger, 37, works at a bank to support his farming addiction in Rolling Fork, where his family has grown cotton, corn, soybeans, rice or wheat since 1902.

    “It’s something about the lifestyle, of being able to watch something that you’re able to create from start to finish,” he said. ”It’s so strange that you can do everything right, and then Mother Nature can take it away. And so it’s a constant battle of man’s will versus Mother Nature, of trying to see how well you can do in the face of adversity.”

    Weissinger’s farm was mostly spared when a deadly tornado tore through Rolling Fork last month as it carved a path of destruction through parts of western and northern Mississippi. But many in the predominantly Black farming community weren’t as fortunate.

    The twister killed 13 of Rolling Fork’s roughly 1,700 residents, destroyed about 300 homes and businesses and laid waste to entire blocks, leaving many to wonder whether their small-town bonds and shared heritage will be enough to convince one another to stay and try to rebuild.

    Rolling Fork has a proud history, claiming blues legend Muddy Waters as a native son and a role in the invention of the teddy bear, after President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a restrained bear during a 1902 hunting trip.

    But the city and surrounding Sharkey County are in one of the country’s poorest regions and were already facing tough economic challenges before the March 24 tornado lashed the community with 200 mph (320 kph) winds, closing down nearly every local business. Volatile agricultural markets and a lack of jobs and new industry have kept Sharkey’s poverty rate at around 35%, nearly double Mississippi’s roughly 19% rate and triple the nation’s nearly 12% rate.

    “We want to keep our Blues heritage. We still want to see some Rolling Fork when it’s rebuilt,” local Travis Gully said as he walked down a hard-hit street near the roughly 135-year-old Rolling Fork Methodist Church a few days after the tornado hit. “We are the home of Muddy Waters. We are the home of the teddy bear. We want to see the bottle trees in our yards to remind people of our rich heritage.”

    The destruction can seem unquantifiable to weary residents who have been working alongside a network of volunteers every day since the tornado to sort through mounds of rubble. Some homes were lifted off the ground by their foundations. A bear statue commemorating Roosevelt’s visit still stands in the heart of downtown, but the twister left its mark on hundreds of structures, including schools, clinics and the local hospital.

    The community has pulled together, but the tornado stacked longstanding challenges on top of newer ones, such as high inflation and rising interest rates. In a rebuilt Rolling Fork, residents want more jobs, better infrastructure and a fighting chance to keep people from fleeing.

    “What in the hell are we going to do? That’s all I can think,” Willard Miller, a 73-year-old lifelong resident, said from his driveway as he looked out on his mangled neighborhood. “There’s a lot of young people, they ain’t coming back. And they have no reason to other than this is their hometown and their parents are probably here.”

    Jerry Stevens owned the Cloverfield Laundromat in downtown Rolling Fork for 20 years. Its walls were blown away, but its 26 washers and dryers remain planted to the ground. Even if he rebuilds, he isn’t sure if many of his old customers will follow suit.

    “I’m scared a lot of the building won’t come because inflation is so high right now,” Stevens said. “Interest rates on loans are really high. I’m thinking when they get their insurance checks, they may just go somewhere else and buy a house that is already standing.”

    Rolling Fork has been tested by the elements before. The effects of economic stagnation have been compounded by repeated bouts of heavy rainfall that turn tame backwaters into flooded terrain. In a wet season, water can overtop levees and spill onto fertile soil, swallowing whatever ill-fated crops lie beneath.

    In 2019, the worst flooding in the area since 1973 drove some from their homes. But the city now faces a rebuilding effort unlike any it has undertaken.

    President Joe Biden, who toured the devastation, approved a disaster declaration for the state, freeing up federal funds for temporary housing, home repairs and loans to cover uninsured property losses. But there is concern about how the aid will be spent.

    “The citizens have lost everything,” said Calvin Stewart, a five-term alderman representing the city’s first ward. “With all the funds people are trying to bring into the city, I need to make sure those funds get to the most impacted folks.”

    The influx of federal funds comes with Mississippi embroiled in its largest-ever corruption case. A welfare scandal has exposed how millions of dollars intended for the state’s neediest people were instead diverted to the rich and powerful.

    Amid a current of distrust, communities that have strong social and civic institutions before disasters strike do a better job of allocating relief funds and retaining residents, said David Peters, a professor of rural sociology at Iowa State University.

    “When natural disasters like tornadoes or floods hit, communities take two different trajectories,” Peters said. “Communities where there’s strong social capital are fairly resilient. The problem is, those rural communities are fairly rare. In communities that have an absence of social capital, federal monies are mismanaged. And most often, people leave.”

    Tasmin Bee, a teacher, is among those who plan to stay, even though the storm blew the roof off the home she bought in August. With Rolling Fork’s schools closed, she said she has to take her five children out of town to keep them busy.

    “There is nothing here for kids. You don’t even have a YMCA,” Bee said. They got a city pool, but it’s small. They had a baseball park. If you want to take the kids to the arcade or something like to have a good time, you’ve got to travel.”

    When Charlie Weissinger, the banker-farmer, needs a place to take his two sons, he brings them to the patch of farmland that has had its hooks in him for as long as he can remember.

    “My boys can decide to go anywhere in the world they want to,” Weissinger said. “But I get them down here, and they get a smell of the dirt. It will follow them for the rest of their lives.”

    ___

    Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mikergoldberg.

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  • Bank employee killed 4 in Louisville shooting, police say

    Bank employee killed 4 in Louisville shooting, police say

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A 23-year-old used a rifle to kill four people — including a close friend of the governor — Monday at the Louisville bank where he was an employee, authorities said.

    The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) to the south. That state’s governor and his wife also had friends killed in that shooting.

    Police in Louisville arrived as gunshots were still being fired inside Old National Bank and exchanged fire with the shooter, who died, Louisville Metro Police Department Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said at a news conference. He said it wasn’t clear whether the shooter killed himself or was shot by officers.

    “We believe this is a lone gunman involved in this that did have a connection to the bank. We’re trying to establish what that connection was to the business, but it appears he was a previous employee,” Humphrey said.

    Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel identified the shooter as Connor Sturgeon,.

    Nine people, including two police officers, were treated for injuries from the shooting, University of Louisville Hospital spokeswoman Heather Fountaine said in an email. One of the officers was in critical condition, she said. At least three patients had been discharged.

    An emotional Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he lost a friend in the shooting in the building on East Main Street not far from the minor league ballpark Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park.

    “This is awful,” he said. “I have a very close friend who didn’t make it today. … And one who’s at the hospital that I hope is going to make it through.”

    It was the second time that Beshear was personally touched by a mass tragedy since becoming governor.

    In late 2021, one of the towns devastated by tornadoes that tore through Kentucky was Dawson Springs, the hometown of Beshear’s father, former two-term Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear. Andy Beshear frequently visited Dawson Springs as a boy and has talked emotionally about his father’s hometown.

    Beshear spoke as the investigation in Louisville continued and police searched for a motive. Crime scene investigators could be seen marking and photographing numerous bullet holes in the windows near the bank’s front door.

    As part of the investigation, police descended on a neighborhood about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of the downtown shooting. The street was blocked as federal and local officers talked to residents. One home was cordoned off with caution tape.

    “I’m almost speechless. You see it on the news but not at home,” said Kami Cooper, 38, who lives in the neighborhood.

    A man who fled the building during the shooting told WHAS-TV that the shooter opened fire with a long rifle in a conference room in the back of the building’s first floor.

    “Whoever was next to me got shot — blood is on me from it,” he told the news station, pointing to his shirt. He said he fled to a break room and shut the door.

    Humphrey, the deputy chief, said the actions of responding police officers undoubtedly saved lives.

    “This is a tragic event,” he said. “But it was it was the heroic response of officers that made sure that no more people were more seriously injured than what happened.”

    The 15 mass shootings this year are the most during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009, when 16 had occurred by April 10, according to a mass killings database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

    Going back to 2006, the first year for which data has been compiled, the years with the most mass killings were 2019 and 2022, with 45 and 42 mass killings recorded during the entire calendar year. The pace in 2009 slowed later in the year, with 32 mass killings recorded that year.

    ___

    Database journalist Larry Fenn contributed to this report.

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  • Was your home damaged in a tornado? Here’s what to do next

    Was your home damaged in a tornado? Here’s what to do next

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    Deadly storms in the past two weeks have unleashed dozens of tornadoes in the United States, mainly in the South and Midwest, killing at least 63 people and damaging or destroying hundreds of homes.

    This year’s early severe weather, especially in the Midwest, is part of a trend seen over the past few years, according to Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

    “We are entering the time of the year where the potential for severe weather increases and much more of the U.S. becomes at risk,” Bunting said this week in an email.

    An average of 1,200 tornadoes hit the country yearly, and the United States will probably get more killer supercells spawning tornadoes and hail as the world warms, according to a recent study.

    That study also warns the lethal storms will edge eastward to strike more frequently in populous Southern states like Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. But tornadoes can happen any time of year and have been reported in all 50 states, according to NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory.

    What should you do if your home is destroyed or severely damaged, once you are safe?

    FOCUS ON YOUR SAFETY

    The word people most commonly use to describe their mindset after a natural disaster is “overwhelmed,” according to United Policyholders, a nonprofit that advocates for insurance consumers.

    “Our basic guidance is to first focus on you and your family’s safety,” said Amy Bach, United Policyholders’ executive director.

    Next, if possible, she recommends photographing and documenting damaged and destroyed property — without entering severely damaged buildings — and determining whether further damage can be prevented through the use of tarps, fans or other methods.

    Finding safe and comfortable temporary shelter and getting a copy of your current insurance policy are important next steps. When you’re safe, have shelter, and have an idea of the extent of your home’s damage, be sure to notify your insurance company.

    HOW’S YOUR INSURANCE?

    Tornado damage is generally covered under homeowner’s and renter’s insurance policies. But you’ll want to read your insurance policy to know your deductible costs and what is covered, Bach said. If damage is minor to moderate, it might not cost as much to repair as the deductible in your policy.

    “We tell people not to rush and to instead take stock and get situated before making any decisions,” she said. “Know that you’ll get solicited (by contractors), and in the first 48 hours, the shock and the trauma generally means you’re not in your best decision-making mode.”

    For temporary, immediate housing, people often turn to a shelter opened by a local government, the American Red Cross or other organizations.

    In addition to providing a place to sleep, water and meals, Red Cross services — all of which are free — can sometimes also include child care, information about disaster-related resources in the community, and access to case workers to help with disaster recovery.

    People also may need to access insurance to cover longer-term housing, to rebuild a home and/or replace belongings, including vehicles.

    Keep receipts for hotel bills, clothing and meals while displaced, and take notes on the calls you make to insurance companies, including the numbers you call, the people spoken to, dates and times, and what was said.

    KEEP UP PAYMENTS

    If your residence is temporarily uninhabitable or destroyed, the Red Cross recommends notifying utility companies and other services so they can stop billing you immediately. Paying insurance premiums and rent or mortgage should be your highest priority, according to the Red Cross.

    Call any creditors and ask for more time to pay. Most creditors will be willing to work with you, especially if you notify them before a payment is due, the Red Cross said.

    Overall, most people have a very steep learning curve after a tornado or other natural disaster because people think they’ll be OK if they have insurance.

    “But for many people, that’s just one piece of getting back as close to where you were,” Bach said. “Losing a home is very much like a death in the family.”

    The Red Cross also has a section on its website dedicated to recovering emotionally after a disaster.

    “Try to accept whatever reactions you may have,” the organization advises. “Look for ways to take one step at a time and focus on taking care of your disaster-related needs and those of your family.”

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  • Homeowners: Here’s how to protect your investment from a tornado

    Homeowners: Here’s how to protect your investment from a tornado

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    In aftermath of the deadly tornadoes that ripped across parts of the Midwest and South this week, homeowners may rightfully be nervous about whether they are financially protected against potentially devastating storms.

    The last three years have had the highest insured losses on record from natural disasters, according to a recent report from Aon. Tornadoes are just one of the severe weather events that can destroy or damage property. Some 1,200 of them hit the U.S. yearly, and the phenomenon has been reported in all 50 states. 

    A recent study suggests that these storms may be occurring more frequently because of global warming, as well as shifting eastward toward the densely populated Southern states of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

    Before a storm strikes, there are steps homeowners or renters might take to make sure they’re financially protected tornadoes.

    Homeowners insurance should have you covered

    Wind damage, including that from tornadoes, thunderstorms and straight-line winds known as “derechos,” is covered as part of a standard homeowner’s policy. 

    “Tornado coverage is not a separate policy that you need coverage for — it’s covered in your standard policy,” said Karen Collins, vice president of property and environmental at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), an industry group. 

    Review your homeowner’s policy. One of the first few pages, titled “declarations,” will list your coverage limits and how much money you might collect in a claim. Covered items include reconstruction costs, as well as replacement of destroyed belongings inside your house — referred to as “contents coverage” or “personal property coverage,” Collins said. There should also be coverage for your living expenses, such as a hotel, if you need to relocate while your house is being repaired.

    What are the deductibles? 

    Most homeowners insurance policies come with a deductible — a certain amount of money you need to pay for repairs before your coverage kicks in. You might have a flat deductible or, as is becoming more common, the policy might specify different deductibles for certain situations.

    “In a lot of areas, insurers have put wind deductibles in place,” said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an advocacy group for insurance consumers. “Some of them will have wind velocity clauses, where if the wind gets to a certain speed the deductible applies.”

    Often, instead of being represented as a dollar amount, the wind deductible will be expressed as a percentage of the whole policy — that can amount to a significant sum.

    “Those deductibles are a bigger chunk of change than they used to be,” Bach said.


    Tornado kills at least 5 in southeastern Missouri

    05:04

    She advises getting on the phone with your insurance company before a potential disaster to walk through your policy.

    “You want to know, ‘Do I have a wind deductible?’ and ‘Can I buy a policy that has a lower deductible or has a flat deductible?’ That’s a little better,” she said.  

    Actual costs or replacement costs?

    An insurance policy will cover your belongings for either their actual value or their replacement cost — for example, the price of new furniture, rugs and any appliances you may need to buy if your current home is destroyed. 

    Think of it this way: Your 12-year-old sofa may only be worth $500 on the market, but if your belongings are destroyed and you need to replace it, you could shell out $2,000 or more for a new couch. 

    For that reason, replacement-value policies tend to be more expensive, but they can also save you some hassle. This type of policy could make even more sense today, as the price of home furnishings has skyrocketed in recent years. 

    Think about flooding — even outside the flood zone

    During most tornadoes, flooding isn’t an issue, which is a good thing given that floods require dedicated flood insurance.

    Water damage coming from above, on the other hand, should be covered by a standard policy, said Loretta Worters, spokesperson for the Information Insurance Institute.  

    “Flooding is considered a rising body of water, so if it’s coming from the ground up, you would not have coverage,” she said. However, if a tornado tears off part of your roof and your house is damaged by rain, that should be “a covered peril,” she said.

    Still, homeowners should consider additional flood coverage if they live in a low-lying area, or somewhere that gets heavy rains. With climate change making precipitation more intense, many places are experiencing flooding for the first time. A severe storm that causes tornadoes could also create flash floods. 


    Homeowners without flood insurance face uncertainty after Hurricane Ian

    02:05

    Bach also noted that insurance companies have become more aggressive about defining certain types of water damage as flooding — such as when a storm damages part of the house’s sewage system and water backs up into the house — and refusing to cover it. That’s a possible scenario that you should run through with your insurance company, she said. 

    “Before you have a loss, call your insurance company and get sewer-and-drain backup coverage,” she said. “If you have a sump pump, ask them if it’s covered if the sump pump fails.” 

    Such coverage is usually available as an add-on, or “endorsement” in industry language.

    Renters insurance: Necessary, and fairly cheap

    If you rent, it may be wise to purchase a separate renters insurance policy, which should cover your belongings in a range of scenarios — storms, break-ins or other unexpected events.

    A homeowner’s policy will cover the owner’s stuff, but your landlord’s policy won’t extend to your belongings. Renters insurance often also covers temporary lodging if you have to leave your home in a disaster.

    “It’s a couple hundred dollars a year, and it makes a big difference,” Worters said. 

    Home office? You may need an additional policy

    If you have a side gig or a home office that you use for work, make sure it’s explicitly protected if a storm strikes. This could mean getting an add-on for your insurance policy from your home insurer.

    “Most homeowners’ policies will have a cap on business property, and it’s something like $1,500, $2,500. So if you have more than that, you’re out of luck,” Bach said.


    Recovery begins after deadly tornadoes slam U.S.

    04:52

    You could also take out separate business coverage, which will protect your side gig from liability if you run into legal problems, like being sued by a disgruntled customer or bystander.  

    Think about your car

    If you have a car, consider shelling out for additional coverage in the case of a disaster. Non-driving damage is covered only under a “comprehensive” policy, colloquially known as “full coverage.”

    “If you have debris that falls on the car, or hail or even flooding, that’s covered under a comprehensive policy,” said Collins of the APCIA. “And if you need to be in another vehicle while [yours is] being repaired, you’ll have a little bit of coverage for that as well.”

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  • Risk of severe storms persists from Texas to Great Lakes

    Risk of severe storms persists from Texas to Great Lakes

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    DES MOINES, Iowa — Severe thunderstorms were expected to bring hail, strong winds — and the threat of tornadoes — to parts of the Midwest and South that are reeling from a weekend of deadly weather.

    Officials warned residents to have shelter ready Tuesday night before going to sleep.

    At least two tornadoes were confirmed Tuesday in Illinois as storms targeted the state and eastern Iowa and southwest Wisconsin before nightfall. Areas of southern Missouri, Arkansas, southwestern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas were most at risk overnight.

    “This could be a night to just set up down in the basement to be safe,” Tom Philip, a meteorologist in Davenport, Iowa, said Tuesday.

    The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings in Iowa and Illinois on Tuesday evening and said a confirmed twister was spotted southwest of Chicago near Bryant, Illinois. Officials said another tornado touched down Tuesday morning in the western Illinois community of Colona. Local news reports showed wind damage to some businesses there.

    The storms were expected to hammer some areas hit by severe weather and possibly dozens of tornadoes just days ago that killed at least 32 people, meaning more misery for those whose homes were destroyed in Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois.

    When a tornado hit Little Rock, Arkansas, last Friday, Kimberly Shaw peeked outside to film the storm, then suffered a painful foot injury that required stitches when a glass door behind her shattered and wind nearly sucked her away. With another storm coming, Shaw said she intends to be far more cautious this time and will rush to an underground shelter at her home.

    “The original plan was just, ‘If we see a tornado coming, we’ll get in the shelter,’” Shaw said. “But now it’s like you’re not going to see it coming. You’re not going to hear it coming. You just need to get (inside the shelter) as soon as the warning goes out or if you just feel unsafe.”

    Earlier Tuesday, strong thunderstorms swept through the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois with winds up to 90 mph (145 kph) and baseball-size hail. No injuries were reported, but trees were downed and some businesses were damaged in Moline, Illinois.

    Northern Illinois, from Moline to Chicago, saw 75-80 mph (120-128 kph) winds and hail 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 centimeters) in diameter Tuesday afternoon, National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Baker said. The agency received reports of semitrucks tipped over by winds in Lee County, about 95 miles (153 km) west of Chicago.

    The Storm Prediction Center said severe storms could produce strong tornadoes and large hail Wednesday across eastern Illinois and lower Michigan and in the Ohio Valley, including Indiana and Ohio. The weather threat extends southwestward across parts of Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas. Farther south and west, fire danger remained high.

    The fierce storms that started Friday and continued into the weekend spawned deadly tornadoes in 11 states as the system plodded through Arkansas and onto the South, Midwest and Northeast.

    The same conditions that fueled those storms — an area of low pressure combined with strong southerly winds — were setting up the severe weather Tuesday into early Wednesday, said Ryan Bunker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

    Those conditions, which typically include dry air from the West going up over the Rockies and crashing into warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, are what make the U.S. so prone to tornadoes and other severe storms.

    Dramatic temperature changes were expected, with Tuesday highs of 74 F (23 C) in Des Moines and 86 F (30 C) in Kansas City plunging overnight to 40 F (4 C) or colder overnight. In Little Rock, Arkansas, Tuesday’s high of 89 F (32 C) tied the record for the date set in 1880.

    A blizzard warning was in effect for nearly all of North Dakota and most of South Dakota through at least Wednesday night. In Minnesota, a winter storm warning was in effect in the north.

    Fire danger persisted across portions of far western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, northeastern New Mexico and far southeastern Colorado, with low humidity, dry vegetation and high wind gusts. In Oklahoma, officials urged some residents near the town of Weatherford to evacuate because of a wildfire.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Trisha Ahmed in St. Paul, Minnesota; Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska; Claire Savage in Chicago; Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington; and Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia, contributed to this report.

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  • Devastating Tornadoes Leave Hazards in Their Wake: Tips to Stay Safe

    Devastating Tornadoes Leave Hazards in Their Wake: Tips to Stay Safe

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    By Cara Murez 

    HealthDay Reporter

    TUESDAY, April 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Tornadoes bring with them many dangers, but perhaps not so evident are the risks from colorless and odorless carbon monoxide (CO) from generators used to temporarily restore power.

    With parts of the United States expecting another round of severe weather, the Consumer Product Safety Commission offers tips to avoid CO poisoning or fires in the aftermath of a major storm or tornado.

    CO poisoning from portable generators can kill in minutes. Those exposed to this gas can become unconscious before experiencing CO-poisoning symptoms of nausea, dizziness or weakness.

    About 85 people die in the United States each year from CO poisoning from portable generators, according to the CPSC. A recent report from the commission for 2011-2021 found Black Americans were at higher risk, comprising about 23% of generator related CO deaths, nearly double the estimated share of the population.

    The CPSC offers the following advice:

    Never operate a portable generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed. It’s not enough to open the window and doors. Lethal levels of CO can still build up.

    Operate portable generators outside at least 20 feet away from the house. Direct the generator’s exhaust away from the home and any other buildings that someone could enter. Meanwhile, close windows and other openings that are in the path of the generator’s exhaust.

    Do not operate a generator on an outside porch or in a carport, which is too close to the home.

    Properly maintain your generator. Read and follow the labels, instructions and warnings on the generator and in the owner’s manual.

    Buying a new generator? Look for one that has a CO shut-off safety feature. This is designed to turn off the generator automatically when high levels of CO are present around the machine. These models are advertised as PGMA G300-2018 and UL 2201. They are estimated to reduce deaths from CO poisoning by 87% and 100%, respectively. UL 2201 certified models have reduced CO emissions in addition to the CO shut-off feature.

    Indoor tips

    Install battery-operated CO alarms or CO alarms with battery backup on each level of your home and outside separate sleeping areas. Interconnected CO alarms are best.

    Make sure smoke alarms are installed on every level and inside each bedroom.

    Test CO and smoke alarms monthly to make sure they are working properly. Replace batteries if needed.

    Never ignore an alarm when it sounds. Get outside immediately, then call 911.
     

    Portable heaters can also be dangerous, the CPSC noted. Keep all sides of the portable heater at least 3 feet from beds, clothes, curtains, papers, sofas and other items that can catch fire.

    Always use a wall outlet for a portable heater. Never use a power strip and never run the heater’s cord under rugs or carpeting.

    Make sure the heater is not near water. Don’t touch it if you are wet.

    Place the heater on a stable, level surface, where it will not be knocked over.

    Don’t leave a portable heater running unattended in a confined space.

    If the heater’s cord or plug is hot, disconnect the heater and contact an authorized repair person. If any part of the outlet is hot, contact a certified electrician.

    Charcoal and candles also pose dangers, including during power outages.
     

    Never use charcoal indoors, which can also produce lethal levels of CO. Do not cook on a charcoal grill in a garage, even with the door open, the CPSC advised.

    If possible, use flashlights or battery-operated candles instead of burning candles. If you must use candles, don’t place them near anything that can catch fire. Never leave burning candles unattended. Always extinguish candles when leaving the room and before sleeping.

    If you hear or smell gas leaking, leave your home immediately, the CPSC cautioned. Contact local gas authorities. Do not operate any electronics, such as lights or a phone, before leaving.

    More information

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on carbon monoxide.

     

    SOURCE: Consumer Product Safety Commission, news release, April 3, 2023

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  • At least 33 killed as tornadoes sweep through U.S.

    At least 33 killed as tornadoes sweep through U.S.

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    At least 33 killed as tornadoes sweep through U.S. – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    More than 60 tornadoes touched down over the weekend from Arkansas to Delaware. At least 33 people were killed across eight states. Omar Villafranca has the latest.

    Be the first to know

    Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.


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  • Forecast warns of more severe storms in South, Midwest

    Forecast warns of more severe storms in South, Midwest

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    Forecasters are warning of more severe weather and fire danger in the days ahead across much of the same region hit hard by storms last week

    BySEAN MURPHY Associated Press Writer

    Forecasters are warning of more severe weather, including tornadoes, Tuesday in parts of the South and Midwest hammered just days ago by deadly storms.

    That could mean more misery for people sifting through the wreckage of their homes in Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois. Dangerous conditions also could stretch into parts of Missouri, southwest Oklahoma and northeast Texas. Farther south and west, fire danger will remain high.

    “That could initially start as isolated supercells with all hazards possible — tornadoes, wind and hail — and then over time typically they form into a line (of thunderstorms) and continue moving eastward,” said Ryan Bunker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

    Just last week, fierce storms that spawned tornadoes in 11 states killed at least 32 people as the system that began Friday plodded through Arkansas and traveled northeast through the South and into the Midwest and Northeast.

    The same conditions that fueled last week’s storms — an area of low pressure combined with strong southerly winds — will make conditions ideal for another round of severe weather Tuesday into early morning Wednesday, Bunker said.

    Those conditions, which typically include dry air from the west going up over the Rockies and crashing into warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, are what make the U.S. so prone to tornadoes and other severe storms.

    The threat of fire danger is expected to remain high Tuesday across portions of far western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, northeast New Mexico and far southeastern Colorado, with low humidity, dry vegetation and wind gusts expected up to 70 mph (113 kph), according to the National Weather Service.

    ___

    Associated Press reporters around the country contributed to this report, including Ron Todt in Philadelphia, Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, Kimberlee Kruesi in Adamsville, Tennessee, Harm Venhuizen in Belvidere, Illinois, Corey Williams in Detroit.

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  • Tornado survivors recount flying debris, destroyed buildings

    Tornado survivors recount flying debris, destroyed buildings

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    WYNNE, Ark. (AP) — With tornadoes hitting the Midwest and the South this weekend, some survivors said they emerged from their homes to find buildings ripped apart, vehicles tossed around like toys, shattered glass and felled trees.

    J.W. Spencer, 88, had never experienced a tornado before, but when he and his wife saw on TV that a tornado was nearing their town of Wynne, Arkansas, he opened a front window and rear door in his house to relieve air pressure. The couple scurried into the bathroom, where they got into the bathtub and covered themselves with quilts and blankets for protection.

    Fifteen minutes later, the storm unleashed its fury on the town nestled among the flat fields and fertile farmland of eastern Arkansas. Debris came whistling through their house.

    “We just rode it out,” Spencer said on Saturday. “We heard stuff falling, loud noises. And then it quit. It got quiet.”

    After it passed, the couple emerged to see devastation in the neighborhood.

    “We come through it real good, as far as the physical part,” Spencer said.

    Many large trees were down in the community of 8,000 residents who take pride in their schools, their churches, their mom-and-pop restaurants and other businesses. Numerous single-family homes were damaged, especially near the high school, which had its roof shredded and windows blown out.

    Near a theater in Belvidere, Illinois, where a tornado killed one man and injured 40 concertgoers, Ross Potter picked up glass shards Friday in front of his building. The last time the town was devastated to this extent from a tornado was in 1967.

    Ambulances whirred by after the theater was hit.

    “They took, I can’t even remember how many people,” Potter said. He was lucky — only a few of his building’s windows were broken, mostly on the second floor. Across the street, most of the brick siding on a storefront was ripped away.

    Back in Wynne in northeastern Arkansas, Alan Purser stopped in his pickup truck to chat with Spencer. Purser described how he rode out the tornado with his cats in his home, which is being remodeled. He took a risk, sheltering in the sun room which is covered by glass, but it was one of the few rooms not being remodeled.

    “I just lay down with my cats, and lay a blanket over me, and let it rumble,” he said of the tornado that flipped over the camper van parked outside.

    From his front porch in Covington, Tennessee, Billy Meade Jr. said he watched a tornado pass through, before hail struck and the sky darkened.

    “You could see the swirl,” Meade said. “The rain was like a sheet. You couldn’t even hardly see past the rain, it was so dark. But you could see the swirl going past.”

    Less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, a tornado struck the elementary school that Meade’s twin sons go to, as well as a middle school next door. On Saturday morning, an exposed gymnasium’s bleachers were visible through a crushed brick wall. Much of the roof was ripped off.

    “The neighborhood I’m in looks fine — it’s like nothing even happened,” Meade said. “But as soon as you go around the corner, it’s like devastation. There’s power lines down everywhere … all kinds of stuff everywhere.”

    And as a tornado hit Little Rock, Arkansas, workers at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe cowered together in the bathroom.

    “It was really loud because the glass started breaking,” said Irulan Abrams, an employee who stood outside the building near a door with broken windows. A siren howled in the distance. She said one person was injured.

    “Now we don’t have anywhere to work,” Abrams said.

    When the tornado hit, there were nine firefighters in Little Rock’s Fire Station No. 9, which became one of the most devastated areas of the city. They sheltered in the chief’s office as the tornado damaged their building.

    “If I said it wasn’t scary, I’d be lying,” Capt. Ben Hammond said Saturday.

    Once the tornado passed, the firefighters began working to help injured residents and to clear debris blocking their equipment.

    “Once you address all the people you can see, then you’ve got to start looking for the people you can’t see,” he said.

    The fire station has served as a shelter for neighbors amid fears that another storm was coming.

    ___

    Associated Press reporters Harm Venhuizen in Belvidere, Illinois, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this story. Selsky reported from Salem, Oregon.

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  • At least 26 dead after tornadoes rake US Midwest, South

    At least 26 dead after tornadoes rake US Midwest, South

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    WYNNE, Ark. (AP) — Storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 26 people in small towns and big cities across the South and Midwest, tearing a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damage’s scope.

    Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least eight states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees and laid waste to neighborhoods across a broad swath of the country. The dead included at least nine in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, three in Sullivan, Indiana, and four in Illinois.

    Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where city officials said more than 2,600 buildings were in a tornado’s path.

    Residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke Saturday to find the high school’s roof shredded and its windows blown out. Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs. Broken walls, windows and roofs pocked homes and businesses.

    Debris lay scattered inside the shells of homes and on lawns: clothing, insulation, toys, splintered furniture, a pickup truck with its windows shattered.

    Ashley Macmillan said she, her husband and their children huddled with their dogs in a small bathroom as a tornado passed, “praying and saying goodbye to each other, because we thought we were dead.” A falling tree seriously damaged their home, but they were unhurt.

    “We could feel the house shaking, we could hear loud noises, dishes rattling. And then it just got calm,” she said.

    Recovery was already underway, with workers using chainsaws and bulldozers to clear the area and utility crews restoring power.

    Nine people died in Tennessee’s McNairy County, east of Memphis, according to Patrick Sheehan, director the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

    “The majority of the damage has been done to homes and residential areas,” said David Leckner, the mayor of Adamsville.

    Gov. Bill Lee drove to the county Saturday to tour the destruction and comfort residents. He said the storm capped the “worst” week of his time as governor, coming days after a school shooting in Nashville that killed six people including a family friend whose funeral he and his wife, Maria, attended earlier in the day.

    “It’s terrible what has happened in this community, this county, this state,” Lee said. “But it looks like your community has done what Tennessean communities do, and that is rally and respond.”

    Jeffrey Day said he called his daughter after seeing on the news that their community of Adamsville was being hit. Huddled in a closet with her 2-year-old son as the storm passed over, she answered the phone screaming.

    “She kept asking me, ‘What do I do, daddy?’” Day said, tearing up. “I didn’t know what to say.”

    After the storm passed, his daughter crawled out of her destroyed home and over barbed wire and drove to nearby family. On Saturday evening, baby clothes were still strewn about the site.

    In Memphis, police spokesman Christopher Williams said via email late Saturday that there were three deaths believed to be weather-related: two children and an adult who died when a tree fell on a house.

    Tennessee officials warned that the same weather conditions from Friday night are expected to return Tuesday.

    In Belvidere, Illinois, part of the roof of the Apollo Theatre collapsed as about 260 people were attending a heavy metal concert. A 50-year-old man was pulled from the rubble.

    “I sat with him and I held his hand and I was (telling him), ‘It’s going to be OK.’ I didn’t really know much else what to do,” concertgoer Gabrielle Lewellyn told WTVO-TV.

    The man was dead by the time emergency workers arrived. Officials said 40 others were hurt, including two with life-threatening injuries.

    Crews cleaned up around the Apollo on Saturday, with forklifts pulling away loose bricks. Business owners picked up glass shards and covered shattered windows.

    In Crawford County, Illinois, three people were killed and eight injured when a tornado hit around New Hebron, said Bill Burke, the county board chair.

    Sheriff Bill Rutan said 60 to 100 families were displaced.

    “We’ve had emergency crews digging people out of their basements because the house is collapsed on top of them, but luckily they had that safe space to go to,” Rutan said at a news conference.

    That tornado was not far from where three people died in Indiana’s Sullivan County, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.

    Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb said at a news conference that an area south of the county seat of about 4,000 “is essentially unrecognizable right now” and several people were rescued overnight. There were reports of as many as 12 people injured, he said.

    “I’m really, really shocked there isn’t more as far as human issues,” he said, adding that recovery “is going to be a very long process.”

    In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than 50 were hurt, some critically.

    The National Weather Service said that tornado was a high-end EF3 twister with wind speeds up to 165 mph (265 kph) and a path as long as 25 miles (40 kilometers).

    Masoud Shahed-Ghaznavi was lunching at home when it roared through his neighborhood, causing him to hide in the laundry room as sheetrock fell and windows shattered. When he emerged, the house was mostly rubble.

    “Everything around me is sky,” Shahed-Ghaznavi recalled Saturday. He barely slept Friday night.

    “When I closed my eyes, I couldn’t sleep, imagined I was here,” he said Saturday outside his home.

    Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. On Saturday, Sanders requested a major disaster declaration from President Joe Biden to support recovery efforts with federal resources.

    Another suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabama’s Madison County, officials said, and in northern Mississippi’s Pontotoc County, authorities confirmed one death and four injuries.

    Tornadoes also caused damage in eastern Iowa and broke windows northeast of Peoria, Illinois.

    The storms struck just hours after Biden visited Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

    It could take days to determine the exact number of tornadoes from the latest event, said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the Storm Prediction Center. There were also hundreds of reports of large hail and damaging winds, he said.

    “That’s a quite active day,” he said. “But that’s not unprecedented.”

    More than 530,000 homes and businesses were without power as of midday Saturday, over 200,000 of them in Ohio, according to PowerOutage.us.

    The sprawling storm system also brought wildfires to the southern Plains, with authorities in Oklahoma reporting nearly 100 of them Friday. At least 32 people were said to be injured, and more than 40 homes destroyed.

    The storms also caused blizzard conditions in the Upper Midwest.

    A threat of tornadoes and hail remained for the Northeast including in parts of Pennsylvania and New York.

    ___

    DeMillo reported from Little Rock. Associated Press writers around the country contributed to this report, including Kimberlee Kruesi in Adamsville, Tennessee, Harm Venhuizen in Belvidere, Illinois, and Corey Williams in Detroit.

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  • Broad swaths of US reel from tornadoes that killed 27

    Broad swaths of US reel from tornadoes that killed 27

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    WYNNE, Ark. — Residents across a wide swath of the South and Midwest on Sunday raced to assess the destruction wreaked by storms that dropped possibly dozens of tornadoes and killed at least 27 people in small towns and big cities, as severe weather moved into parts of the Northeast.

    Earlier storms tore a path through the Arkansas capital, collapsing the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois and stunning people throughout the region Saturday with the damage’s scope.

    The White House announced Sunday that it would provide federal resources, including financial assistance, to support recovery efforts after President Joe Biden declared broad swaths of the country a major disaster.

    Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders had already declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.

    Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in 11 states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees and laid waste to neighborhoods. It could take days to make a count of all the tornadoes from recent days.

    Teams from the National Weather Service on Sunday were investigating reports of tornados touching down in New Jersey and Delaware, the president’s home state, where severe weather prompted warnings and damaged numerous homes and shut down roads. One person was found dead inside a house heavily damaged by the storm Saturday night in Bridgeville, Delaware State Police reported.

    The dead also included at least nine in one Tennessee county; four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas; three in Sullivan, Indiana; and four in Illinois.

    Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi, along with one near Little Rock, Arkansas, where city officials said more than 2,600 buildings were in a tornado’s path.

    Residents of Wynne, a community of about 8,000 people 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Memphis, Tennessee, woke Saturday to find the high school’s roof shredded and its windows blown out. Huge trees lay on the ground, their stumps reduced to nubs.

    Ashley Macmillan said she, her husband and their children huddled with their dogs in a small bathroom as a tornado passed, “praying and saying goodbye to each other, because we thought we were dead.” A falling tree seriously damaged their home, but they were unhurt.

    Chainsaws buzzed, as bulldozers plowed into debris. Utility crews restored power as some neighborhoods began recovery.

    Nine people died in Tennessee’s McNairy County, east of Memphis, according to Patrick Sheehan, director the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

    Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee drove to the county Saturday to tour the destruction and comfort residents. He said the storm capped the “worst” week of his time as governor, coming days after a school shooting in Nashville that killed six people including a family friend whose funeral he and his wife, Maria, attended earlier in the day.

    “It’s terrible what has happened in this community, this county, this state,” Lee said. “But it looks like your community has done what Tennessean communities do, and that is rally and respond.”

    Jeffrey Day said he called his daughter after seeing on the news that their community of Adamsville was being hit. Huddled in a closet with her 2-year-old son as the storm passed over, she answered the phone screaming.

    “She kept asking me, ‘What do I do, daddy?’” Day said, tearing up. “I didn’t know what to say.”

    After the storm passed, his daughter crawled out of her destroyed home and drove to nearby family.

    In Memphis, police spokesman Christopher Williams said via email late Saturday that there were three deaths believed to be weather-related: two children and an adult who died when a tree fell on a house.

    Tennessee officials warned that the same weather conditions from Friday night are expected to return Tuesday.

    In Belvidere, Illinois, part of the roof of the Apollo Theatre collapsed as about 260 people were attending a heavy metal concert. A 50-year-old man was pulled from the rubble; he later died.

    Officials said 40 others were hurt, including two with life-threatening injuries.

    In Crawford County, Illinois, three people were killed and eight injured when a tornado hit around New Hebron, said Bill Burke, the county board chair.

    Sheriff Bill Rutan said 60 to 100 families were displaced.

    “We’ve had emergency crews digging people out of their basements because the house is collapsed on top of them, but luckily they had that safe space to go to,” Rutan said at a news conference.

    That tornado was not far from where three people died in Indiana’s Sullivan County, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis.

    Several people were rescued overnight, with reports of as many as 12 people injured.

    “I’m really, really shocked there isn’t more as far as human issues,” said Sullivan Mayor Clint Lamb, adding that recovery “is going to be a very long process.”

    In the Little Rock area, at least one person was killed and more than 50 were hurt, some critically. The National Weather Service said that tornado was a high-end EF3 twister with wind speeds up to 165 mph (265 kph) and a path as long as 25 miles (40 kilometers).

    Masoud Shahed-Ghaznavi was lunching at home when it roared through his neighborhood, causing him to hide in the laundry room as sheetrock fell and windows shattered. When he emerged, the house was mostly rubble.

    “Everything around me is sky,” he recalled Saturday.

    Another suspected tornado killed a woman in northern Alabama’s Madison County, officials said, and in northern Mississippi’s Pontotoc County, authorities confirmed one death and four injuries.

    The storms struck just hours after Biden visited Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where tornadoes last week destroyed parts of town.

    The sprawling storm system also brought wildfires to the southern Plains, with authorities in Oklahoma reporting nearly 100 of them Friday. At least 32 people were said to be injured, and more than 40 homes destroyed.

    ___

    DeMillo reported from Little Rock. Associated Press writers around the country contributed to this report, including Kimberlee Kruesi in Adamsville, Tennessee, Harm Venhuizen in Belvidere, Illinois, Corey Williams in Detroit and Ron Todt in Philadelphia.

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  • One killed after tornado strikes Delaware; severe weather slams Northeast

    One killed after tornado strikes Delaware; severe weather slams Northeast

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    Tornado Warnings issued in multiple New Jersey counties


    Tornado Warnings issued in multiple New Jersey counties

    03:52

    At least one person was killed when a tornado struck Delaware Saturday evening, officials said, part of a massive storm system which had already produced several deadly tornadoes in the Midwest and South on Friday before taking aim at the Northeast. Tens of thousands of customers were also without power.

    The weather-related fatality occurred when a suspected tornado caused a structure to collapse near the Delaware town of Greenwood, the Sussex County government reported. Sussex County also posted cell phone video of a funnel cloud moving through the area at about 6 p.m. local time. 

    Greenwood is located about 25 miles south of Dover.

    Bethany DeBussy, a town manager for nearby Bridgeville, Delaware, told CBS News in an email that there were multiple reports of vehicle accidents and entrapments, downed power lines and gas leaks. DeBussy could not confirm if there were any injuries.

    One killed after tornado strikes Delaware, as severe weather slams Northeast
    Storm damage in Bridgeville, Delaware, after a suspected tornado hit the area. April 1, 2023. 

    Ineishia Corbett


    The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm watch Saturday evening for parts of New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, including New York City.

    In total, at least 24 deaths have been blamed on the massive storm system, which caused multiple tornadoes in the Midwest and South on Friday before turning its attention to the Northeast on Saturday. The deaths were reported across eight states, according to the latest numbers compiled Saturday by CBS News, including Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, Alabama, Ohio and Mississippi.

    During a heavy metal concert Friday night, a theater roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing a 50-year-old man and injuring about 40 others.

    Earlier in the day Friday, President Biden toured the damage from a tornado last week which left at least 21 people dead in Mississippi. 

    As of Saturday night, more than 201,000 customers in Pennsylvania were without power, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. More than 109,000 were without power in Ohio, along with another 94,000 in Virginia, 51,000 in West Virginia and 46,000 in North Carolina.   

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