Powerful storms again swept across the Midwest, downing trees and power lines and spawning twisters that leveled houses and barns and sent mobile homes hurtling through the air.
In Marengo, Ind., a town of 800 about 35 miles northwest of Louisville, Ky., about 100 people took shelter at a high school Sunday when a storm destroyed at least 50 homes and left an elderly man dead. A second man was killed in Missouri when part of a tree slammed onto his car.
A third death was reported early Monday. A 7-year-old Tennessee girl was killed in Giles when a wall collapsed in her home, said supervisor Dan Creasy of the Giles County Ambulance Service.
At least 16 other people, also in the south-central part of the state, were injured, according to Trey Brannom of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Almost two dozen tornado warnings were issued overnight.
Several people were injured by the weekend’s tornadoes, which also ripped through parts of Nebraska and Kansas. High wind was blamed for two deaths in Kansas and three in Missouri on Saturday.
Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan planned Monday to fly over areas hit by the storm—only three days after his last such trip.
In Indianapolis, a powerful storm raked across the city’s south side, ripping the roof off a nursing home while 50 residents were inside. They were evacuated, many wrapped in sheets and blankets.
“Everything was going up in the air,” said Brenda Edwards, 26, who works at a restaurant about seven miles southeast of downtown Indianapolis. “We went inside and got in the cooler.”
The worst of the storm passed south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but rain delayed the start of the Indianapolis 500 and forced a nearly two-hour interruption. Nearby, the National Weather Service said it saw evidence of a tornado touchdown close to its office on the southwest side of the city.
In Marengo, the damage was powerful. Patricia Parker found three mobile homes on top of each other when she arrived home. She did not think the residents were home at the time.
“My stomach’s in knots,” the 21-year-old said.
The man killed in Marengo, whose name was not immediately released, died in his mobile home, Indiana State Police Sgt. Todd Ringle said. Several people were hurt, none seriously.
Howard Lincoln, 49, who rode out the storm under his Bronco, found his home still standing but knocked four feet off its foundation. In his front yard, a large piece of metal was wrapped around a tree.
“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever been through. It was loud and noisy, windy. It was unreal,” he said. “I feel lucky, totally lucky. When you look up and see that thing on top of you, you don’t know what to think.”
In the St. Louis suburb of Berkeley, strong winds snapped off part of a tree and dropped it onto a sport utility vehicle, killing the driver, Darren Clark, 39, of Ferguson, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
On Saturday night, a tornado hit northwest Missouri near the town of Weatherby, leveling a house and ripping a mobile home from its base.
Two women in the house and a man in the mobile home were killed, but two children a patrolman found tucked underneath the man survived, Daviess County Sheriff Kevin Heldenbrand said.
The children and two others from the women’s home were taken to a hospital in Kansas City, where three were listed in critical condition and one was in serious condition, spokeswoman Jennifer Benz said.
One of the man’s neighbors, Jodi Frazier, left her mobile home with her family and took shelter in a friend’s basement.
“It didn’t sound that bad until the tornadoes started dropping out of the sky, and then that’s when we got out,” she said. “Because a mobile home, everybody knows you can’t ride a tornado out in.” Her home was destroyed.
In Kansas, high wind was blamed for two deaths in separate accidents Saturday on Interstate 70 in northwest Kansas, including that of state Republican Sen. Stan Clark. Clark was killed when his car was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer after the wind blew dust that cut visibility, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.
Sunday’s storms knocked out power to more than 130,000 customers in Illinois and the St. Louis area. Flight delays were up to three hours Sunday evening at O’Hare International Airport and two hours at Midway Airport, and roughly 100 O’Hare flights were canceled, the Chicago Department of Aviation said.
Severe weather swept through Nebraska, including at least two tornadoes in the southern part of the state. Two people jogging in Omaha on Saturday were seriously injured by a lightning strike, authorities said.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Aviation Kansas Missouri
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