Tag Archives: Tornadoes

Utah, Nevada, and Arizona see rare Tornados

Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Rare tornadoes strike Desert Southwest, touching down in Arizona, Nevada
  • Most of the Desert Southwest averages less than 10 inches of precipitation a year, but when it rains, it pours. Parts of Arizona, Nevada and Utah got a bit more than they bargained for Sunday when afternoon monsoonal downpours popped up, with several tornadoes touching down.
  • Tornadoes are a rarity in the southwestern United States, but multiple twisters were on the ground simultaneously for a time Sunday evening. One churned ominously close to Interstate 15 in Nevada, and another was photographed from near Lake George, Utah, as it slipped into northern Arizona.
  • At the same time, the National Weather Service in Las Vegas was maintaining a tornado warning for a separate rotating thunderstorm near Mesquite, Ariz. At one point, the Weather Service noted that the public confirmed a tornado, and it included a stretch of Interstate 15 in the warning.
  • If that winds up having been the case, then two twisters will have been on the ground simultaneously.

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Major Storms Hit the South East

2 Timothy 3:1 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Deadly storms leave trail of destruction across southern US
  • Tornadoes and severe storms touched down across several states, leaving at least one person dead.
  • A major outbreak of tornadoes is causing significant damage across much of the South – including Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

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From Tornadoes to Fire Danger Texas warns residents to stay alert

2 Timothy 3:1 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Fire weather, severe storms to impact Texas in the days to come
  • More than a week after more than 20 tornadoes ripped through the state, Texans are once again bracing for another chance for severe storms Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Behind this threat, elevated to critical fire danger is expected as winds will easily exceed 35-40 mph Wednesday afternoon.
  • Now is the time to have a weather plan in place for yourself and your family.

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Four Twisters Hit Fort Myers

Matthew 16:2-3 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

Important Takeaways:

  • Florida is hit by FOUR tornadoes with speeds of up to 118mph that have left hundreds homeless
  • Four tornadoes tore through Florida on Sunday, leaving hundreds homeless after the storms destroyed 65 homes and over 100 mobile homes
  • The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 storm, topping 110mph, in Charlotte County that caused a semi-truck to flip on its side, injuring the driver
  • An EF-2 twister with winds of 118mph sent debris flying through the sky and left several homes in Fort Myers torn to bits; At least four people were injured in the storm
  • Two EF-0 tornadoes were also recorded Sunday, downing power lines, trees and tearing the roofs off several homes; No residents were injured

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More storms on the way

Important Takeaways:

  • Potent storm to reignite severe weather dangers in Southeast
  • Forecasters are eyeing a developing storm as it pushes across the Midwest. In the coming days, stormy weather is forecast to develop across a wide swath of the central and eastern United States.
  • The main threat from these storms will be flash flooding and damaging winds, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 80 mph
  • The outbreak, which occurred on Dec. 10 and Dec. 11, produced at least 66 confirmed tornadoes.
  • The tornadoes are expected to cost about $18 billion in total damage and economic loss.

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From Kabul to Kentucky: Afghans put down roots in refugee haven

By Amira Karaoud and Mary Milliken

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Reuters) – After exhausting journeys that took them from Kabul to Qatar to European cities to U.S. military bases, Afghan families fleeing the Taliban alighted in Kentucky, in a small city well versed in receiving refugees.

Bowling Green has welcomed waves of refugees over four decades, beginning with the Cambodians in the 1980’s and then Bosnians in the 1990’s, plus Iraqis, Burmese, Rwandese and Congolese and others, who have helped make the city of 72,000 a diverse and economically thriving place.

Wazir Khan Zadran was a tribal leader who fought 20 years ago against the Haqqani network, a powerful faction within the Taliban. Although he more recently worked with a non-governmental organization, he knew the Taliban would come for him.

Zadran said the Americans saved him and his family by picking them up in a Chinook helicopter in August and taking them to the Kabul airport. After a spell at a New Mexico military base, they were sent to Bowling Green and quickly realized they had lucked out in their new American lives.

“We are so happy in Bowling Green,” said the 41-year-old father, who has secured a comfortable house and sent his children to school with the assistance of the local resettlement agency, the International Center, founded in 1981.

“Also, the local community is helping us and introducing the culture to us,” Zadran added.

His six children are learning songs in English, sending “Dear Santa” letters off, going to the library and lapping up ice cream at Baskin-Robbins.

In the aftermath of rising anti-immigrant and refugee sentiment during the Trump administration, the United States government is now handling its biggest refugee evacuation since Vietnam. Of the nearly 75,000 expected to settle in America, Bowling Green will receive 350 Afghans in fiscal year 2022.

There are plenty of jobs for new residents of Bowling Green, an agricultural and manufacturing hub, perhaps best known for the assembly plant that makes the coveted Corvette sports car. The Bosnians, who now number around 10,000 and own several companies, attest to the good job prospects when the Afghans’ expedited work permits arrive in coming months.

“In 2000 when I came here, I arrived with a couple of suitcases and two infant children and my wife,” said Tahir Zukic, a Bosnian from Srebrenica who owns Taz Trucking, employing 100 people and 140 trucks.

“It’s absolutely an amazing place to be, with a lot of opportunity and you can just do what you like to do.”

For those who did not work with the Americans in Afghanistan, learning the language could be the toughest part of adapting to their new home, Zukic said. But they also must learn how America works, how to drive, how to get a credit card. And what to do when tornadoes approach.

The twisters that tore through Kentucky this month jolted the Afghans’ sense of security. They were confounded by the 1 a.m. sirens that reminded them of Kabul and shocked by the uprooted trees, roofs ripped off houses and deaths in one neighborhood home to many immigrants.

“We never saw a storm like this before in our life in Afghanistan, so we felt maybe we were going to another war,” Zadran said. “But God saved us.”

‘THIS IS MY PLACE’

Firas Majeed arrived in Bowling Green from Baghdad via Brooklyn, New York, in 2016. The Iraqi refugee came to visit a friend and decided “this is my place.” He now co-owns a grocery store stocked with Middle Eastern and European foods after working as a welder.

“The quality of life is higher than in the big cities,” said Majeed, who appreciates the big skies and verdant farms around Bowling Green, strong job market, low rents and medical care.

Majeed said the Afghans will get a lot of support because everyone saw the images of the chaotic evacuation from Kabul. The Iraqis can teach them things, like how to get a driver’s license.

Bowling Green is also a place that allows refugees to hold onto their identities while becoming Americans – offering a socially conservative environment to raise families and practice religions.

At the Forest Park Baptist Church, Congolese refugees have breathed new life into the community. Worship services and Bible study are translated into Swahili and sometimes held in that language.

“We love their gospel singing,” said church leader Mike Givens, and the church translates their songs so everyone hears the message.

“Our community has changed, so if we do not seek or go after the immigrant population, our church will not survive,” added Givens.

Back at the Zadran house, the children make quick progress with their new culture. The eldest, Zuleikha, teaches her siblings a song in English with the lyrics “What are you thankful for?”

As they applaud their own performance, Zuleikha declares “Finished!” and flashes a wide grin.

(Reporting by Amira Karaoud and Mary Milliken; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Chickens, tractors, grain silos destroyed by deadly U.S. tornadoes

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) -A Deere & Co dealership and a Pilgrim’s Pride Corp chicken hatchery were destroyed when deadly tornadoes swept through Kentucky on Friday, while silos holding millions of bushels of corn suffered damage, the companies and the state’s agriculture commissioner said on Monday.

“We have a 200-mile swath through Kentucky that has pulled-down grain systems, destroyed chicken hatcheries and of course blown-over barns,” said Ryan Quarles, Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner.

The destruction in the Midwest could further raise already high chicken prices and add to supply-chain headaches that have made it difficult for farmers to replace tractor parts.

Poultry is Kentucky’s top agricultural commodity, and at least a dozen chicken barns collapsed, Quarles said. The state is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to properly kill and dispose of chickens housed in barns that were destroyed, he said.

President Joe Biden will visit the state on Wednesday to survey the damage.

One Pilgrim’s Pride chicken hatchery was a total loss, and another is expected to be offline until spring after suffering significant damage, the company said in a statement. It added that other company hatcheries are supplying chickens to farmers near Mayfield, a town of 10,000 that suffered some of the worst damage from the tornadoes.

Pilgrim’s, which is mostly owned by Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA, is evaluating damage to a local feed mill, while a production plant is expected to be fully operational on Wednesday, the statement said.

The loss of the hatchery in Mayfield “automatically triggers a multi-month delay in the processing and raising of chickens because the hatchery simply is not there anymore to supply the farmers,” Quarles said.

Mayfield is in Kentucky’s top county for agricultural sales, accounting for 6% of the state’s total farm business, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, though the state is not a top grain producer. Kentucky held 1.5% of U.S. corn stocks in December 2020, the USDA said.

“Lots of farmer elevators damaged. Some small feed mills have damage with indefinite timelines,” said Andrew Jackson, broker at Producers Hedge, in Lancaster, Kentucky.

Mayfield Grain Company, a crop handler, had roofs ripped off of parts of a storage system that holds 6 million bushels of grain in Mayfield, Quarles said. That’s enough corn to fill two Panamax vessels — each ship the length of two football fields.

Photos on Twitter showed yellow corn visible from the tops of bins that lost their roofs. The company had no immediate comment.

“You have millions of bushels of corn, much of which was just freshly harvested, being exposed to the elements, being damaged,” Quarles said.

“We’re looking for ways to recover spilled grain but also divert the storage and movement of grain to other facilities around the state.”

Quarles said the agriculture department will help farmers find buyers for grain amid reduced demand for feed from livestock and poultry producers who suffered losses.

Hutson Inc, a company that sells Deere equipment, said its flagship store in Mayfield was “destroyed by one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the state.”

Workers “waded through debris and used what equipment they could salvage to assist with rescue efforts at a candle plant located next to us that had mass casualties,” Chief Executive Josh Waggener said in a statement online.

Deere said it is in touch with Waggener and working with Hutson to provide financial assistance to the community.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek, Christopher Walljasper and Mark Weinraub in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Lisa Shumaker)

Death toll now 74 from weekend tornadoes, expected to rise -Kentucky governor

(Reuters) – The death toll from a string of tornadoes that tore through six states rose to 74 with at least 109 people still missing, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Monday. He said the number of fatalities would likely rise in the coming days.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Chris Reese

 

By Gabriella Borter

MAYFIELD, Ky. (Reuters) – At least 64 people, including six children, lost their lives in Kentucky after a raft of tornadoes tore through six states, with power still out for thousands and strangers welcoming survivors who lost everything into their homes.

While the toll from the deadly twisters was lower than initially feared, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said he expects it to increase as searchers continue to sift through a flattened landscape of twisted metal, downed trees and homes reduced to rubble.

“It may be weeks before we have counts on both deaths and levels of destruction,” Beshear told reporters, adding that the victims ranged in age from 5 months to 86 years old, and that 105 people were still unaccounted for.

On Monday, Beshear said officials were working to confirm that eight people had perished when a candle factory in Mayfield, a town of about 10,000 in the southwestern corner of Kentucky, was hit in the storm.

Out of the 110 workers who had been toiling at the Mayfield Consumer Products LLC factory, 94 were believed to have made it out alive, according to the owners of the business, the governor said.

“We feared much, much worse,” he said. “I pray that it is accurate.”

In the hard-hit small town, the tornado destroyed not only the candle factory but also the police and fire stations. Homes were flattened or missing roofs, giant trees uprooted and street signs mangled.

Kentucky’s emergency management director, Michael Dossett also at the briefing, said 28,000 homes and businesses remained without power.

More than 300 National Guard personnel and scores of state workers were distributing supplies and working to clear roads so that mountains of debris can be removed in the aftermath of the disaster, the governor said.

He added that authorities were coordinating an “unprecedented amount of goods and volunteers,” and President Joe Biden was expected to visit the state but no date had been set.

Beshear, at times chocking up, said the search, rescue and recovery process in the swath of destruction has been an emotional roller coaster for all those involved, including him.

“You go from grief to shock to being resolute for a span of 10 minutes and then you go back,” he said.

Biden on Sunday declared a major federal disaster in Kentucky, paving the way for additional federal aid, the White House said.

While Kentucky was hardest hit, six workers were killed at an Amazon.com Inc warehouse in Illinois after the plant buckled under the force of the tornado, including one cargo driver who died in the bathroom, where many workers told Reuters they had been directed to shelter.

A nursing home was struck in Arkansas, causing one of that state’s two deaths. Four were reported dead in Tennessee and two in Missouri.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Mayfield, Kentucky; Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago and Susan Heavey in Washington; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Maria Caspani; Editing by Robert Birsel and Lisa Shumaker)

Hurricane Laura slams southwestern Louisiana, but less damage than forecast

By Elijah Nouvelage and Ernest Scheyder

LAKE CHARLES, La. (Reuters) – Hurricane Laura ripped through southwestern Louisiana on Thursday, destroying buildings in towns across the southwestern corner of the state and killing a 14-year-old girl after making landfall as one of the most powerful storms to hit the area.

Still, the damage Laura has inflicted so far is far less than what forecasters predicted.

The hurricane’s first reported U.S. fatality was the teenage girl in Leesville, Louisiana, who died when a tree fell on her house, a spokeswoman for Governor John Bel Edwards said.

“We do expect that there could be more fatalities,” the spokeswoman, Christina Stephens, said on Twitter.

A chemical plant caught fire in Laura’s wake on Thursday morning in Westlake, Louisiana, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Lake Charles, sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky over the wind-torn landscape near Interstate 10.

Edwards warned residents in the area to shelter in place, close doors and windows and turn off air conditioners as authorities investigated. Traffic was blocked on the interstate and Highway 90.

“Stay inside and wait for additional direction from local officials,” Edwards wrote on Twitter.

CLEANUP BEGINS

Residents of Lake Charles heard Laura’s winds howling and the sound of breaking glass as the storm passed through the city of 78,000 with winds of 85 miles per hour (137 km per hour) and gusts up to 128 mph (206 kph) in the hour after landfall.

National Guard troops cleared debris from roads in Lake Charles on Thursday afternoon. There were downed power lines in streets around the city, and the winds tipped a few semi-trucks onto their sides.

The windows of the city’s 22-floor Capital One Tower were blown out, street signs were toppled and pieces of wooden fence and debris from collapsed buildings lay scattered in the flooded streets, video footage on Twitter and Snapchat showed.

Lake Charles resident Borden Wilson, a 33-year-old pediatrician, was anxiously anticipating his return home after evacuating to Minden, Louisiana.

“I never even boarded up my windows. I didn’t think to do that. This is the first hurricane I’ve experienced. I just hope my house is fine,” he said in a telephone interview.

In the small town of Starks, about 25 miles northwest of Lake Charles, pine trees strewn across roads and homes were the biggest challenge in cleaning up.

Rev. Karl Smith carefully inspected the damage done to buildings around his First Pentecostal Church. He rode out the storm in the cellar of his house – and had to cut through trees so that he and his wife could get out.

“We just had trees thrown everywhere,” Smith said. “It’s a big mess.”

HIGH WATERS, TORNADO THREATS

Laura made landfall just before 1 a.m. (0600 GMT) as a Category 4 storm packing winds of 150 mph in the small town of Cameron, Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

It rapidly weakened to a Category 1 storm on Thursday morning with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), and has since become a tropical storm.

The NHC warned that high water levels would persist along the Gulf Coast for several hours as Laura moved north and then northeast.

Besides threatening life, the storm slammed the heart of the U.S. oil industry, forcing oil rigs and refineries to shut down production.

The Port of Lake Charles remained closed as workers were unable to enter or exit the facility due to downed power lines and trees.

The port avoided significant flooding but power was out as of Thursday morning, manager of security and safety Ed Manint said. The harbor police were assessing the damage, he said.

‘LESS SURGE THAN WE THOUGHT’

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Pete Gaynor told Fox News that the agency would make storm damage assessments on Thursday and had the resources to respond to the storm now, adding he expected to see significant damage from wind and building damage.

“I think we’re generally fortunate – less surge than we thought,” Gaynor said.

The NHC on Wednesday predicted storm surge would be “unsurvivable” and could penetrate up to 40 miles inland. While the worst projections had not materialized, damaging winds and flooding rainfall would continue spreading inland later on Thursday, the NHC said.

Laura could spawn tornadoes on Thursday over Louisiana, Arkansas and western Mississippi, and was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) of rain across portions of that region, the NHC said.

(Reporting by Elijah Nouvelage in Lake Charles, La., Ernest Scheyder in Starks, La., Jennifer Hiller and Gary McWilliams in Houston, Liz Hampton in Denver, Timothy Ahmann, Susan Heavey and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Gabriella Borter and Peter Szekely in New York and Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Tex.; Writing by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Matthew Lewis)

Severe storms, tornado kill at least six in Oklahoma and Texas

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – Severe storms and a tornado swept through the U.S. states of Oklahoma and Texas, killing at least six people and injuring dozens, officials said on Thursday.

Three people died and at least 20 were injured when a tornado touched down in Onalaska, Texas, on Wednesday, emergency officials said. Onalaska is about 90 miles north of Houston.

Two people were also killed in southern Oklahoma, while local media reported that a woman died in storm in Louisiana.

“On April 22, a tornado struck the city of Onalaska and other portions of Polk and San Jacinto counties, and possibly even far eastern Walker County”, Houston’s National Weather Service (NWS) said in a statement.

The tornado touched down near Oklahoma’s border with Texas around Wednesday evening. NWS said it will be sending crews on Thursday morning to survey the path of the “Onalaska tornado”.

Polk County, where Onalaska is located, issued a declaration of disaster on Wednesday night after the tornado hit.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the state had deployed response teams and medical resources to provide assistance.

“The state will continue to do everything it can to support those affected by this severe weather,” Abbott said in a statement.

Several homes were damaged in the storms and thousands were left without power. More than 7,000 people across Oklahoma and about 9,000 people in Onalaska faced power outages.

Images in local media showed the devastation caused by the storms, including damage to homes, downing of power lines and twisted billboards.

The development comes as most Americans are under “stay-at-home” orders due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month, at least six people were killed as a strong storm system swept across the southern states of Mississippi and Louisiana, spinning off more than a dozen tornadoes and leaving behind a path of destruction.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie)