New Delhi: Several people were killed and many sustained injuries after a tornado tore through southeastern Missouri on Wednesday, news agency AP reported.
“The damage is pretty widespread. It’s just heartbreaking to see it,” AP quoted Clark Parrott of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
According to him, a search and rescue operation is underway that involves multiple agencies. Crews are also having to use chainsaws to cutback trees and brush to reach homes.
“A tornado definitely touched down, there is damage to homes, we know that, there have been people injured, we don’t know the extent” or if there are fatalities,” said meteorologist Justin Gibbs with the weather service in Paducah, Kentucky.
Gibbs said it look like that initially the tornado was on the ground for 15-20 miles (24-32 kilometers) in the area about 90 miles (145 km) south of St. Louis. He added that the weather service will send a survey team to the area later Wednesday to assess the damage and determine the strength of the tornado.
It is to be noted that the storms come after severe weather and possibly dozens of tornadoes killed at least 32 people some days back, adding more potential misery for those whose homes were destroyed in Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings in Iowa and Illinois on Tuesday and said a confirmed twister was spotted southwest of Chicago near Bryant, Illinois.
As per the officials, another tornado touched down Tuesday morning in the western Illinois community of Colona. The local news reports showed wind damage to some businesses in the area.
Notably, earlier Tuesday, strong thunderstorms swept through the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois with winds gushing up to 90 mph and baseball-size hail. However, no injuries were reported, but trees were uprooted and some businesses were damaged in Moline, Illinois.