US tornado kills 10

Shin Orochi · Apr 25, 2010

Apr 25, 2010
US tornado kills 10

Tornadoes ripped through the South-east on Saturday, killing six people in Mississippi and injuring more than a dozen others. --PHOTO: AP

 YAZOO CITY (Mississippi) - TORNADOES ripped through the south-east of the United States on Saturday, killing 10 people in, including three children, and injuring more than a dozen others. Roofs were torn off businesses, homes were splintered, vehicles were overturned and roads were blocked by toppled trees. Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said five people were killed in Choctaw County, including two children. Four victims were in Yazoo County and one was in Holmes County. Governor Haley Barbour told The Associated Press there was 'utter obliteration' in parts of Yazoo County, an area known for cotton, catfish, blues music and picturesque hills rising abruptly from the flat Mississippi Delta.

More than 15 other counties were also damaged. The swath of debris forced rescuers to pick up some of the injured on all-terrain vehicles the west-central part of the state. Tornadoes were also reported in Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama, and the severe weather continued to track eastward. The severe weather darkened skies and dumped rain on the region, much of which was under a tornado watch or warning at some point during the day. The weather hampered crews trying to clean up an oil spill after an offshore rig exploded earlier this week off the coast of Louisiana. Several sporting events and festivals also were rescheduled. -- AP

Shin Orochi · Apr 25, 2010

Tornado kills 10 in Mississippi: officials

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama
Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:21pm EDT

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - A tornado nearly a mile wide ripped through central Mississippi on Saturday, killing 10 people, including three children, and injuring dozens of others, state authorities said.

U.S.

The tornado struck at least 13 counties, destroying scores of homes and trapping people inside, damaging businesses, blocking highways and knocking out power to thousands, said the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Five people died in Choctaw County, four in Yazoo County and one in Holmes County, said Greg Flynn, spokesman at the agency. Governor Haley Barbour declared a state of emergency after the first major U.S. tornado of the year.

"It has done huge damage around Yazoo City," Barbour, who grew up in the city, told CBS television. "We have fatalities, a number of people that we're still trying to rescue who are trapped in buildings. But it is a major, significant tornado ... and it did some huge damage and perhaps some fatalities north of here," Barbour said. "The Hinds County Sheriff's Department is sending two dozen deputies and 100 inmates to assist with the response in Yazoo County and clear debris," the emergency agency said. The storm system has moved to Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, said Greg Carbin, spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Reporting by Peggy Gargis; Writing by Matthew Bigg; Editing by Peter Cooney)