Deadly Tornadoes Wreck Havoc Across South
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A ferocious storm system threatens tens of millions of people across the Southeast Monday, a day after tornadoes ripped through the South, killing at least 17 people — 15 in Arkansas, one in Oklahoma and one in Iowa — and leaving a trail of destruction, officials said.
The death toll was initially reported as 18 because Pulaski County in Arkansas mistakenly reported that five people had died. The county told Al Jazeera it revised the count to three.
The same storm system is expected to remain active through Wednesday, with the National Weather Service's (NWS) Storm Prediction Center saying more storms were expected Monday in the South. Harold Brooks, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Severe Storms Laboratory, told Al Jazeera the areas at highest risk on Monday include central Mississippi through central Tennessee and northwestern Alabama.
In Mississipi, officials said up to seven people died Monday after 12 tornadoes touched down across the state. One woman died when her car either hydroplaned or blew off a road during the storm in Verona, south of Tupelo.
On Monday, in the City of Athens, Alabama, spokeswoman Holly Hollman said Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakeley reported two deaths at a mobile home park. Further sourtheast of the city, the Associated Press reported Monday four people died from the impact of the storm.
On Sunday night, the Arkansas twister shredded cars, trucks and 18-wheelers on Interstate 40 north of Little Rock. Hardest in the state were the Little Rock suburbs of Mayflower and Vilonia.
"We have seen a lot of property damage across this area," Brandon Morris, of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, told Al Jazeera.
Nine of the victims came from the same street in Vilonia, with a population of about 4,100.
A new intermediate school set to open in August was heavily damaged by a tractor trailer blown into its roof. And a steel farm shop anchored to concrete was erased from the landscape.
"Everything is just leveled to the ground," Vilonia resident Matt Rothacher told Reuters. "It cut a zig-zag right through town."
The NWS's North Little Rock office said it was certain that the Mayflower and Vilonia storm would be rated as the nation's strongest twister so far this year.