NASHVILLE – At least two people were killed on May 8 after strong storms swept through Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, bringing intense rain, winds and hail in some areas. The severe weather arrived a day after widespread storms pummelled the Midwest, and tornadoes tore through Michigan.
In Claiborne County in north-east Tennessee, one person was killed after a tree fell on a vehicle as storms passed through the area, according to the county’s office of emergency management.
Another person died in Maury County after a “large and destructive” tornado was spotted near Spring Hill, Tennessee, about 56km south of Nashville. About 16km away, the twister hit near Columbia, a city of about 45,000 residents. The death was confirmed by Ms Rita Thompson, a spokeswoman for Maury Regional Health, a hospital in Columbia.
The storm left a trail of debris and people trapped in damaged homes, said Mr Pat Woodmansee, assistant director of the county’s emergency management agency.
Three patients were hospitalised with injuries that were not life-threatening and a fourth was in serious condition, Ms Thompson said.
As storms continued to batter the Midwest for a third day and moved into the eastern United States late on May 8, the National Weather Service issued a string of tornado warnings in cities across Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee.
In Williamson County in southern Illinois, the weather service issued a tornado warning after a “confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” was spotted on the afternoon of May 8. There were no immediate reports of damage in the area.
More than 40,000 customers were without power across Tennessee on the evening of May 8, according to PowerOutage.us, as most of the state was under a tornado watch and some parts faced heavy rains and flash flooding.
More severe storms were expected through the evening from Texas to North Carolina, according to forecasters.
About 21 million people were under either an enhanced or moderate risk of severe weather – the third and fourth levels of intensity, out of five – on May 8, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Centre.
“Don’t let your guard down!” the weather service office in Nashville said on social media on the afternoon of May 8. “We’re in the ‘lull’ right now before the main line tonight. Our environment is very unstable so any storm that develops ahead of the line this afternoon could turn strong to severe very fast.”
Nearly 50 tornadoes were reported from Oklahoma to Ohio over the past two days, as severe storms wrought damage throughout the Midwest.
The storms brought strong winds and caused power outages. About 28,000 customers were still without power in Michigan on the afternoon of May 8, according to PowerOutage.us.
Among the hardest hit counties was Kalamazoo, in southern Michigan, where officials said tornadoes damaged nearly 200 mobile homes and winds were so strong that they lifted some homes away. At least 16 people were injured, the authorities said, though none seriously.
About 50 workers were rescued from a FedEx depot centre in Kalamazoo County after a tornado wrecked the building and stranded them inside.
The authorities in Oklahoma said a tornado that was up to 3km wide caused widespread destruction on May 6, killing one person in Barnsdall, and damaging up to 40 homes in the small town. NYTIMES
