Environment

Midwest Ravaged by Storms With ‘Major, Major Destruction’ and at Least Nine Reported Deaths (Pictures & Videos)

Several Twisters Cause Damage and Death in Midwest

Harrisburg, Ill. (Photo: The Southern Illinoisan, Paul Newton via AP)

BRANSON, Mo. (The Blaze/AP) — A powerful storm system that produced multiple reports of tornadoes lashed the Midwest early Wednesday, roughing up the country music resort city of Branson and laying waste to small towns in Illinois and Kansas. At least nine people were killed.

An apparent twister rolled through Branson just before 1 a.m. and seemed to hopscotch up the city’s main roadway, ripping roofs off hotels and damaging some of the city’s famed music theaters dangerously close to the start of the heavy tourism season. More than 30 people were reported hurt, mostly with cuts and bruises.

Watch this report from Branson:

“If it was a week later, it’d be a different story,” said Bill Tirone, assistant general manager for the 530-room Hiltons of Branson and the Branson Convention Center, referring to the upcoming tourist season. Windows were shattered and some rooms had furniture sucked away by high winds. Hotel workers were able to get all guests to safety as the storm raged.

Several Twisters Cause Damage and Death in Midwest

Damage to a Branson hotel. (Photo: AP)

John Moore, owner of the damaged Cakes-n-Creams `50s Diner, said the tornado seemed to target the city’s main strip, moving down the entertainment district, through the convention center, across a lake and into a housing division. He said the tornado appeared to “jump side to side.”

“The theater next to me kind of exploded. It went everywhere. The hotels on the two sides of me lost their roofs. Power lines are down. Windows are blown out,” Moore said. “There’s major, major destruction. There has to be millions dollars of damage all down the strip.”

At least six people were killed in the southern Illinois town of Harrisburg after a storm leveled much of the community of 9,000 people.

Several Twisters Cause Damage and Death in Midwest

Harrisburg, Ill. (Photo: The Southern Illinoisan, Paul Newton via AP)

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

The storms left much of the small eastern Kansas town of Harveyville in rubble. At least three people were critically injured.

See footage of the twister touching down in Kansas:

The tornadoes were spawned by a powerful storm system that blew down from the Rockies on Tuesday and was headed across the Ohio and Tennessee river valleys toward the Mid-Atlantic region.

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

From Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, at least 16 tornado sightings were reported from Nebraska and Kansas across southern Missouri to Illinois and Kentucky, according to the storm center, an arm of the National Weather Service.

Several Twisters Cause Damage and Death in Midwest

Harveyville, Kan. (Photo:Orlin Wagner AP)

Watch this raw footage of damage from Elizabethtown, Kentucky:

Jennifer Verhaalen, a long-term resident at the Hillbilly Inn Motel in downtown Branson, said she saw a white funnel cloud followed by a wall of rain as the storm closed in on the town around 1 a.m.

She said she retreated to a back bedroom with her husband as the storm slammed into two other hotel buildings tearing the roof off one.

Across the road, a strip mall lay in tatters, its roof missing and several walls collapsed. As the sun rose Wednesday, business owners picked through the remains of their stores.

Keith and Glenna Bartley, tourists from Kingsport, Tenn., said staff at the Grand Victorian Hotel where they were staying ushered them to the basement around 1:30 a.m.

Branson has long been a tourist destination for visitors attracted to the beauty of the surrounding Ozarks. But the city rose to prominence in the 1990s because of its theater district, which drew country music stars including Merle Haggard and Crystal Gale as well as other musical celebrities such as Chubby Checker and Andy Williams.

It is about 110 miles southeast of Joplin, which was devastated by a monstrous twister last May that killed 161 people.

Farther north, rescue crews waited for sunrise to begin searching a trailer park south of Buffalo where at least one person was killed after an apparent twister slammed the area.

Lt. Dana Eagan of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office said 13 people at the park were hurt and the entire town was without power. Buffalo is about 35 miles north of Springfield.

Tornado season normally starts in March, but it isn’t unusual to see severe storms earlier in the year. Forecasters can seldom assess how serious a season will be because twisters are so unpredictable. This year, two people were killed by separate tornadoes in Alabama in January, and preliminary reports have showed 95 tornadoes struck that month.

In neighboring Kansas, the National Weather Service reported brief tornado touchdowns southwest of Hutchinson, and Gov. Sam Brownback declared a state of emergency after an apparent tornado struck Harveyville.

Several Twisters Cause Damage and Death in Midwest

Harveyville, Kan. (Photo: Orlin Wagner/ AP)

The declaration covered Wabaunsee County, southwest of Topeka. The governor’s office said one person was critically injured, several homes and a church were damaged and trees and power lines were down.

The system also skirted northern Arkansas, bringing gusts of up to 60 mph in the northwest. A wall cloud, which often produces twisters, was reported in Cherokee Village, where trees were scattered along roads, the weather service said. Residents of Clay County in northeastern Arkansas reported hail the size of golf balls, while half dollar-sized hail was reported in Mountain Home.

In northern Oklahoma, gusts of up to 80 mph flipped trailers and damaged homes near Cherokee.

Tornado warnings and watches were posted for most of Kentucky and a large portion of Kentucky.

 

Comments (22)

  • SGT Rock
    Posted on March 3, 2012 at 6:32am

    I pray for their safety and welfare.

    On a side note maybe we can get Obama to appollogize to Mother Nature and it will calm things down. It sure worked in with the Muslims. ;)

    Report Post » SGT Rock  
  • kim
    Posted on March 1, 2012 at 9:18am

    this is sadthis had to happen but we need to be there for the people and some poeple dont have the money to build strong house or underground so they have to do with what they have

    Report Post »  
  • pooterskooter
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 11:42pm

    It‘s all OBAMA’s Fault~!!!! Doesn’t he proclaim that he is the Almighty CHOOSEN ONE? Since he likes to blame everything and everyone else for the things he does…..GIVE HIM THE CREDIT! Obama DID it!! Amen

    Report Post » pooterskooter  
  • Bullfrog85
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 9:47pm

    II live in Branson and honestly it’s not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Yes, there is structural damage, loss of power, and even trees uprooted. However, I was in Joplin after the tornado last year and this is absolutely nothing compared to what they went through. More than anything, I‘m thankful it wasn’t any worse.

    Report Post » Bullfrog85  
  • fridaysgirl
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 8:48pm

    Does it ever occur to anyone that “people insist on living in disaster prone areas” because that is where they can find a job and support their families without relying on government handouts? Maybe they live there because they are financially trapped there and don’t have money to move away. There are dangers wherever you live. In the big city you have a higher risk of being the victim of a violent crime than if you live in a small town. If you live on the coast you have a risk of hurricanes. If you live on the border you have a whole new set of risks. The fact is, people have to eat, find shelter, and support their families wherever they can, whatever risks that brings.

    BANKERPAPAW got it right when he said that small towns band together, clean up the mess, and don‘t sit on their butts waiting for the gov’t to show up and fix things. We don’t want government handouts, we love our midwest home and find it worth every risk it brings with it. I pray for all the families that lost their homes, businesses, or family members last night. It was a scary night, but this morning when I woke up I realized, after hiding in my basement with the neighbors who came to find safety from the storm, that we are a closer community because of what we went through together. There is good that comes from even the most difficult situations in life.

    Report Post »  
  • tajloc
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 5:20pm

    The USA is filled with people building their houses without taking the conditions into consideration. This is wrong. I don’t want to send the military anywhere to “help” out with these poor folks. Listen I-70 shut down yesterday. We just deal with it here in Colorado. That is we pay for the snow plows and then live with the problems. If I lived in “tornado Alley” I would build underground.

    Report Post »  
  • dlivelli
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 4:45pm

    This is where the govt should step in. Send the Guard or military to help the cleanup and help people get a start on rebuilding. They can also set up MASH units to help ease the burden on the local hospitals…they could treat the lesser injuries and send the bad ones to the hospitals. We all need to pray for these people, and do whatever we can to help….I could not imagine losing all I have……Godspeed to all.

    Please don’t give me any of the climate change crap…..just can it! It’s all BS so save it. Do something to help instead of trying to use it to advance your BS agenda…they need help not garbage science!

    Report Post »  
    • bernbart
      Posted on February 29, 2012 at 5:53pm

      Oh yo mean the climate change BS supported by every leading scientist in the world? Only dumb right wing idiots do not believe in climate change.

      Report Post »  
  • Razorhunters
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 3:59pm

    Project Cloverleaf
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=1FuePO4BY6w

    Rest in peace my brothers and sisters….may you now find that which you were seeking.

    Report Post » Razorhunters  
  • Razorhunters
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 3:55pm

    anyone else notice tornado alley seems to have move east…?
    Magnetic North Pole Moves to Siberia
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=g-RT3wBG-Yg

    PROJECT CLOVERLEAF !!! TRUE PURPOSE OF CHEMTRAILS !!!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AAd4ynJ6wb0

    Report Post » Razorhunters  
    • dlivelli
      Posted on February 29, 2012 at 4:50pm

      cool you tube stuff……lead me to look up lots more. Thanks!

      Report Post »  
    • Razorhunters
      Posted on February 29, 2012 at 5:20pm

      np , just trying to pass along some information.

      Report Post » Razorhunters  
  • bankerpapaw
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 3:33pm

    Have you ever noticed how towns like this ALWAYS pull together and rebuild? People in New
    Orleans are still waiting for the government to come in and powder their butts.

    Report Post »  
  • s0ck_monkey
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 3:07pm

    It’s unfortunate that people have died but…whenever something like this happens, I’m always left wondering why people seemingly insist on living in disaster-prone regions. I mean, how many times does your house have to be destroyed by wind, engulfed in water from a river that floods, or losing everything because they’ve built a town at the foot of an active volcano, or below average sea level, or on a tectonic fault line, before they finally decide that moving to an area that is less prone to Mother Nature’s Spank-O-Matic?

    I know you can never be completely safe but jeez…one or two possible tornadoes a year is way better than several definates and a dozen maybes.

    Here’s an engineering hint, folks. If you have to build everything on stilts, or make the structure “super strong” to withstand extreme high winds, earthquakes, etc…when everday conditions are normal, it‘s a fair bet that you’re gonna get your pee-pee smacked when the poop hits the fan.

    Report Post »  
    • Darlie
      Posted on March 1, 2012 at 1:12am

      There is no area of the world immune to disaster. The Midwest has tornadoes, but in the last few years so have Salt Lake City, New York City and Nashville. God bless these people.

      Report Post »  
  • Apple Bite
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 2:48pm

    It missed Carbondale….just barely.
    Condolences to those in Harrisburg. Stand strong and stand together, we know you‘ll come through and we’ll be there for you.

    Report Post » Apple Bite  
  • Razorhunters
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 2:46pm

    my deepest sympathies and prayers and cash are heading to these people…
    if need physical labor , will assist in that way also.

    Report Post » Razorhunters  
  • UBETHECHANGE
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 2:29pm

    Praying for them.

    Report Post »  
  • bhelmet
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 2:27pm

    Prayers for all – I hate these late night/early morning storms. I am glad my daughter slept through them – she is terrified of rain thanks to tornadoes, but I feel for all of those affected.

    Report Post » bhelmet  
  • HorseCrazy
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 2:27pm

    wow just unbelievable. I am so glad I am not living in Missouri anymore. Prayers for those in this storm. Seems like the midwest has been hit quite a bit more than usual…especially those floods in poplar bluff awhile back and the strange st louis twisters.

    Report Post »  
  • TOMSERVO
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 2:26pm

    Global warming will only result in weirder, wilder weather that will cost the federal (and states’) government huge amounts of money.

    But YA‘LL BETTER NOT BE TAKIN’ AWAY MAH LIGHT BULBS!

    Report Post »  
  • AmericanStrega
    Posted on February 29, 2012 at 2:25pm

    YES! For once Kansas is mentioned! Last night, as I watched The Weather Channel, they talked about severe weather in IL and MO, but not a word about Kansas (for the most part Kansas doesn’t exsist until something nasty happens. And even then it’s hard to find out any info). For once we were mentioned. Now let me say, I’m saddened by the loss of life and property by those affected in all areas. May God have mercy on their souls.

    Report Post »  

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