Six killed including two children as Iowa is hit with 206mph tornado
Six people, including two children, have been killed by a tornado that struck a state in the US.
The tornado ripped through Madison County, which is southwest of the state capital Des Moines, in Iowa, on Saturday, the Des Moines Register reported, citing local officials.
The heavy storms caused more than 10,500 people in Des Moines to lose power.
The National Weather Service added the tornado was an EF3, meaning that it swirled with winds of up to 206 miles per hour (332 kph).
The agency said on Twitter that the situation was “extremely dangerous”.
US reports initially indicated that two people had been killed when the tornado struck Winterset and nearby communities.
But Madison County emergency management director Diogenes Ayala later confirmed that four children and two adults had been killed when the twister hit around 4.30pm local time (10.30pm GMT).
She added the two children who died were under the age of five.
He said: “This is, I think, the worst anyone has seen in quite a long time.”
Mr Ayala added the tornado also left one adult with life-threatening injuries and three others in a serious condition in hospital.
He said that “this is a widespread storm”, before estimating there was serious damage to more than two dozen homes.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds issued a a statement saying she and her husband are praying for those who had died and also those injured in the tornado.
She said: “Our hearts go out to all those affected by the deadly storms that tore through our state today.
“Our hearts ache during this time, but I know Iowans will step up and come together to help in this time of need – they already are.”
Courtesy of Sky News
Back-to-back Tornadoes Kill 12 in China; More Than 300 Injured
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Back-to-back tornadoes killed 12 people in central and eastern China and left more than 300 others injured, authorities said Saturday.
Eight people died in the inland city of Wuhan on Friday night and four others in the town of Shengze, about 400 kilometers east in Jiangsu province, local governments said.
The first tornado struck Shengze about 7 p.m., damaging homes and factories and knocking out power, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The Suzhou city government, which oversees the town, said in a social media post that four people had died and 149 others had minor injuries. Shengze is near Shanghai on China’s east coast.
Another tornado hit Wuhan at about 8:40 p.m. with winds of 86 kilometers per hour, destroying more than two dozen homes and triggering a power outage affecting 26,600 households, Xinhua said. Officials in Wuhan said at a news conference Saturday that eight had died and 230 were injured.
They said that 28 homes collapsed in Wuhan, another 130 were damaged and put economic losses at 37 million yuan ($5.7 million), the Hubei Daily newspaper said. Construction site sheds and two cranes were also damaged, while downed power lines knocked out electricity, Xinhua said.
Photos showed a swarm of rescuers searching through building debris in Wuhan after midnight Friday and workers clearing metallic debris at a factory in Shengze in the morning.
Wuhan is the city where COVID-19 was first detected in late 2019.
Tornados are rare in China. In July 2019, a tornado killed six people in the northeastern Liaoning province, and another tornado the following month killed eight on the southern resort island of Hainan.
In 2016, a tornado and accompanying hailstorm killed 98 people in the eastern Jiangsu province.
Courtesy of voacambodia.com
1 dead, 7 injured after tornado rips through Louisiana parish, USA
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A tornado ripped through a portion of Louisiana early Saturday morning causing extensive damage and leaving at least one person dead and seven others injured, officials said.
Seven people were taken to hospitals and multiple other victims were treated on scene, KLFY reported. Search and rescue crews were still assessing the area for other victims.
The storm caused extensive damage to homes and vehicles. A trailer from a truck was in the middle of a road and other vehicles were flipped over, KLFY reported.
Jose Antonio Higareda, 27, was killed when the tornado hit the home where he was living with 130 to 140 mph winds, The Advocate reported.
Courtesy of fox23.com
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