WASHINGTON: Powerful tornadoes roared through three central US states Thursday night, killing 3, officials said Friday.
The powerful storms raked through the adjoining states of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.
“We have three known fatalities,” Sheriff Randall Dodds, of Logan County in west-central Ohio, told a CBS affiliate.
“The devastation was such that we have to get heavy equipment into these areas to be able to move this material where homes have collapsed, to see if there’s anybody injured,” he said, adding, “it’s going to take a long time.”
A total of more than 13 million people across the central United States were under the threat of a tornado Thursday as the storm approached, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
The NWS said the storm moved across the Ohio Valley and produced apparent tornadoes in many areas, including an extremely dangerous half-mile wide tornado in Ohio.
The tornado hit Indian Lake, a rural town in the western part of the state.
President of the Indian Lakes Chamber of Commerce, Amber Fagan, told media that it was an absolute disaster. “Downtown, it’s bad. It’s very bad.”
Fallen power lines, downed trees and shattered glass littered roads.
Further east, close to 5,000 homes were without electricity in Ohio’s Delaware County.
“Someone else’s roof is in my kitchen,” Katie Sprinkle told the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. She told media that her children wore bike helmets during the storm and her husband had them shelter under an overturned canoe.
“Pray loud, Mom,” her nine-year-old daughter urged her.
Indiana State Police initially told US media that three people were killed when a suspected tornado hit a mobile home park in Winchester, Indiana.
However, it said at an overnight press conference that it was “not aware” of the deaths.
But officials said Friday that at least 38 people were injured in Randolph and Delaware counties, Indiana, including three with potentially serious injuries. At least 22 buildings were destroyed in the storm.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear took to social media to state that tornadoes passed through the state’s Trimble and Gallatin towns, but there were no casualties.
Tornadoes are both difficult to predict and dramatic weather phenomena that are relatively common in the United States, especially in the South-Central United States.
Tornado outbreaks are not uncommon in March, but the peak usually occurs in April or May.
