SENECA, Mo. (AP) -May 11, 2008
At least 12 people were killed after severe storms spawned
tornadoes and high winds across sections of southwestern Missouri,
the State Emergency Management Agency said.
Ten of the dead were killed when a twister struck near Seneca, near the Oklahoma border.
"There may be more - I hope not," said SEMA spokeswoman Susie
Stonner late Saturday night.
At least six people were killed earlier in the day as the
tornado flattened the northeastern Oklahoma town of Picher,
authorities said.
"They're going over the hard-hit area and turning over
everything and looking," Stonner said of emergency workers' search
for victims and assessment of damage. "It's hard to do in the
dark."
The number of injuries across the area was not immediately
available, though The Joplin (Mo.) Globe reported that more than 90
people from that region were being treated at Joplin hospitals.
The tornado in Picher (pronounced PITCH-er) - a depressed and
pollution-scarred mining town that many residents had already fled
- caused major damage in a 20-block area, said Oklahoma's Emergency
Management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten.
"I know they are going through the rubble, trying to find
people missing," she said. "There are numerous injuries."
Gov. Brad Henry issued a statement saying a major emergency
response was under way. He planned to visit the area Sunday.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Picher and all
of the other Oklahoma communities that have been impacted by the
latest wave of severe weather," Henry said.
Television footage showed some destroyed outbuildings and
damaged homes west of McAlester and near Haywood. At a glass plant
southwest of McAlester, the storm apparently picked up a trailer
and slammed it on top of garbage bins.
"These are rural areas that we are in," Pittsburg County
Undersheriff Richard Sexton told KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City. "These
are good people coming together at this time."
In storm-weary Arkansas, a tornado collapsed a home and a
business, and there were reports of a few people trapped in
buildings, said Weather Service meteorologist John Robinson.
Central Park Elementary School in the northwest Arkansas city of
Bentonville had roof and window damage, and damage was also
reported at Pine Creek Center School.
The storms remained active into the night as they swept
eastward, with watches and warnings abundant across a wide swath of
the Plains and South.
Rescuers freed a man trapped in his vehicle in western Tennessee
after a tree fell on it during thunderstorms, Memphis firefighters
said.
Memphis authorities say they've received reports of power lines
and trees down, but there have been no injuries.
Tornadoes killed 13 people in Arkansas on Feb. 5, and another
seven were killed in an outbreak May 2. In between was freezing
weather, persistent rain and river flooding that damaged residences
has slowed farmers in their planting.
---
Associated Press writers Murray Evans in Oklahoma City and Chuck
Bartels in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.
Deadly tornadoes rip central states
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