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The Guardian
More severe storms are expected in the southern and central US on Monday after a night of devastating tornadoes left at least 15 people dead.People in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas took shelter on Sunday night as a swarm of tornadoes drove through the area, hitting communities still recovering from a strong storm system that left 316 people dead in May 2011.
The largest tornado made landfall on Sunday around 7pm local time about 10 miles (16km) west of Little Rock, Arkansas. The twister continued for 80 miles, growing to be a half-mile wide.
At least 14 people in Arkansas were killed, according to the state’s department of emergency management. Ten of those were killed in Faulkner County, where the suburbs of Mayflower and Vilonia are considered to be the hardest-hit regions of the storm. The number was revised downward on Monday from an initial 16 reported dead, after state officials said some victims had been counted twice.
NPR
Emergency officials were searching Monday for survivors after tornadoes tore through parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma overnight, killing at least 14 people and leveling entire neighborhoods."We don't have a count on injuries or missing. We're trying to get a handle on the missing part," Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said at a news conference Monday. "Just looking at the damage, this may be one of the strongest we have seen."
Brandon Morris, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, said crews were looking for survivors and were assessing the damage.
"Right now, the main focus is life safety," he said. "We're trying to make sure everyone is accounted for."
BBC
Emergency crews have been digging through the rubble for survivors of deadly tornadoes that ripped through several central and southern states of the US.At least 17 people died in Arkansas and Oklahoma - 16 of them in the suburbs of Little Rock, Arkansas.
Tornadoes also struck in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.
Forecasters have warned millions of people to prepare for more severe storms in the region on Monday.
There are warnings of further tornadoes, high winds and large hailstones to strike parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana.
"We've got a powerful storm system affecting the eastern two-thirds of the United States over the next few days,'' said Russell Schneider, director of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
New York Times
VILONIA, Ark. — Ryan Henry stood outside his brick home and saw the tornado nearing his neighborhood, razing much of this small city in Central Arkansas as it went. He dashed inside, grabbed a bedspread and headed for the bathroom, where his three daughters were already in the tub. He placed his body over the girls — twin 9-year-olds and an 8-year-old — and waited.“I used my legs and my forearms to kind of push in on the tub,” Mr. Henry, 31, recounted on Monday afternoon. “The house started rumbling. It sounded like an F-16. It rumbled for maybe 10 seconds or so, and then you could start hearing things rip apart. Once things started ripping apart, everything was shaking.”
Rarely have twisters struck the same town with such ferocity along much the same path, but for Vilonia, the tornado here on Sunday was a nightmare revisited. Nearly three years ago to the day, a tornado swept through this city of about 3,800, snapping power lines, ripping apart homes and leaving them exposed to the torrential rains that followed.
Reuters
On a second day of ferocious storms that have claimed at least 21 lives in the southern United States, a tornado tore through the Mississippi town of Tupelo on Monday causing widespread destruction to homes and businesses, according to witnesses and local emergency officials.At least one person was killed in Tupelo, a city of about 35,000 in the northeast of the state and the birthplace of Elvis Presley.
Most of the deaths from the severe storm system occurred on Sunday when tornadoes tossed cars like toys in Arkansas and other states.
Monday's twister in Tupelo, one of several to tear across Mississippi, damaged hundreds of homes and businesses, downed power lines and tore up trees, the National Weather Service said.
"It was real bad. We're trying to pull people out," Tupelo Police Chief Bart Aguirre, told Reuters, referring to emergency crews going house to house, searching damaged buildings.