| |
 |
Spring storm rakes central US
|
A POWERFUL spring storm spawned tornadoes, hurricane-force winds and heavy rains across the US plains on Wednesday and dumped a paralyzing blizzard on the Rocky Mountain region.
One man was killed and one person seriously injured when a tornado touched down in southwestern Oklahoma, destroying a modular home and carving a 10-mile path of destruction, police said.
A worker at a beef processing plant died from injuries sustained on Tuesday when he and another worker were blown off the roof of the plant by gusty winds in Council Bluffs, Iowa, police said.
Another twister tore across rural sections of western Missouri and Iowa, touching down intermittently and causing extensive damage to a few farms but no deaths, authorities said.
Many smaller tornadoes were sighted hopscotching across Iowa and Missouri, and hurricane-force wind gusts of 70 mph tore roofs off homes in Nebraska and knocked down trees.
Several vehicles were overturned and buildings damaged in the central Kansas city of Salina.
At higher elevations, the storm spawned a blizzard that dumped around a foot of heavy, wet snow on Colorado and Wyoming, closing long stretches of highway and shutting down Denver's airport.
Thousands of people in the Denver area lost electric power, and many schools and businesses shut down as icy roads made for dangerous travel. Some motorists were stranded by the blinding snow.
The storm delayed air traffic across the region as airlines cancelled or delayed flights to avoid the bad weather.
In northern Texas, a tornado destroyed a grain elevator in Spearman, taking out seven of nine bins filled with corn, soybeans and milo.
The unwelcome spring rains added to flood woes in the upper Midwest, where dikes were raised alongside rivers already swollen by melting winter snows. (SD-Agencies)
|
|
|
|
