Dozens killed as wild weather sweeps across southern and central US
At
least 43 people have been killed in Christmas weekend storms
State
of emergency declared in Missouri and New Mexico
Tornadoes
rip through Dallas area, killing 11 people
Another
13 die in Illinois and Missouri flash flooding
Staff and agencies
Monday 28 December
2015 01.08 GMT
At least 43 people
have been killed after storms hit southern and central US states over
the Christmas holiday, unleashing floods and tornadoes, flattening
buildings, blowing vehicles off highways and snarling transportation
for millions.
The weather prompted
the governors of Missouri and New Mexico to declare a state of
emergency for their states on Sunday.
In the Dallas area,
11 people were left dead by tornadoes over the weekend, including one
packing winds of up to 200 miles per hour (322 kmh). The twister hit
the city of Garland, killing eight people and blowing vehicles off
highways.
“A tornado of that
strength is very rare in a metropolitan area,” National Weather
Service meteorologist Matt Bishop told Reuters. Powerful tornadoes
are a staple of spring and summer in central states but occur less
frequently in winter, according to U.S. weather data.
“It is total
devastation,” Garland police spokesman Lieutenant Pedro Barineau
said. “It is a very difficult time to be struck by such a horrible
storm the day after Christmas.”
It was the latest of
a succession of powerful weather events across the country, from
heavy snow in New Mexico, west Texas and the Oklahoma panhandle to
flash flooding in parts of the plains and midwest.
In addition to the
Texas fatalities, flash flooding killed at least 13 people in
Illinois and Missouri, officials and local media reported on Sunday.
Six adults drowned
when they drove their cars into flooded waterways in Missouri’s
Pulaski county, said county sheriff Ron Long.
In neighboring
Illinois, Salem-based radio station WJBD reported a family of three
adults and two children was driving near the village of Patoka, 85
miles (137 km)east of St. Louis, Missouri, when their car was washed
away by floodwaters.
The death toll in
the south-east linked to severe weather rose to 19 on Sunday when
Alabama authorities found the body of a 22-year-old man whose vehicle
was swept away while attempting to cross a bridge; a five-year-old
died in the same incident. Ten people have died in Mississippi, and
six died in Tennessee. One person was killed in Arkansas.
The full extent of
damage along a nearly 40-mile stretch near Dallas was becoming clear
Sunday: houses destroyed, vehicles mangled, power lines down and
trees toppled. Heavy rain and wind hampered cleanup efforts on Sunday
afternoon.
“This is a huge
impact on our community and we’re all suffering,” Barineau said
of the community about 20 miles north-east of Dallas, where eight
people died, 15 were injured and about 600 structures, mostly
single-family homes, were damaged.
The weather service
said an EF-4 tornado, which is the second-most powerful with winds up
to more than 200mph, hit the community at about 6.45pm on Saturday.
It was near the intersection of Interstate 30 and George Bush
Turnpike, which is a major route in the region. At least three people
who died were found in vehicles, said Barineau, who also noted that
some cars appeared to have been thrown from the interstate, though it
wasn’t known whether that was the case for the people found in the
vehicles.
Natalie Guzman, 33,
took photos of her family’s home in a Garland neighborhood. The
garage wall had collapsed and the roof fell in. The only part of the
house that appeared to be spared was the master bathroom, where her
brother-in-law took shelter Saturday night. He was the only one at
home and told her he had just enough time to get himself and his dogs
into the bathroom.
“It was worse than
I thought,” Guzman said, comparing the scene to the photos her
brother-in-law had sent the night before.
The destruction in
Garland was so overwhelming that Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins
declared the city a disaster within mere minutes of seeing the toll
first-hand.
“I don’t declare
local disasters lightly,” Jenkins said. “But I looked at the
scene for 10 minutes, spoke to the incident commander and then called
the lawyers to bring the paperwork.”
In the nearby town
of Rowlett, city manager Brian Funderburk said Sunday morning that 23
people were injured, but that there were no deaths and no reports of
missing people. The weather service said damage indicated it was
likely an EF-3 tornado, which has winds up to 165 mph.
Dale Vermurlen lived
in a Rowlett neighborhood that sustained heavy damage. His house only
had minor damage, but was next to that were flattened.
“I grabbed both
dogs by the collars and held on to the toilet. I said ‘OK, this
could be it, boys.’”
Homes in the
neighborhood that had been searched by emergency responders were
marked with a black X. In some instances, it looked like homes had
been picked up and set back down in a big pile. State troopers were
blocking off roads, utility crews were restoring power and people
were walking around hushed and dazed.
Three other people
died in Collin County, about 45 miles northeast of Dallas, according
to sheriff’s deputy Chris Havey, although the circumstances were
not immediately clear
Weather service
meteorologist Matt Bishop in the Fort Worth office said the tornado
outbreak at this time of the year for North Texas occurs “from time
to time ... but it’s certainly not something that happens
regularly”.
On the other side of
the state, a snowstorm was accompanied by plunging temperatures. In
far west Texas, up to four inches of snow fell overnight in the
Alpine area, with foot-deep drifts reported. Parts of Interstate 40
on the Texas-New Mexico border were closed Sunday due to snow. Texas
department of transportation spokesman Paul Braun told the Amarillo
Globe-News that crews are doing what they can to plow the drifts,
which occurred even though there were only about 3in of snow. They
“go through and it blows it right back,” he said.
Albuquerque, New
Mexico, received about 6in of snow and saw nearly 200 weather-related
accidents Saturday. Meanwhile, Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin declared
a state of emergency as there were blizzard conditions and an ice
storm warning out west and flood warnings in the east.
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