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
‘Rain bomb’ hits Australia’s northeast, killing seven in floods
A severe storm system pummelled Australia’s northeastern city of Brisbane on Sunday, causing evacuations, power outages and school closures as the death toll climbed to seven from accompanying flash floods.
More than 1,400 homes in the capital of Queensland state were at risk of flooding while more than 28,000 homes were without power statewide, as pristine beaches on the Gold and Sunshine coasts, which are key tourist attractions, all closed.
“We never expected this rain,” state premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told a briefing. “This rain bomb is just really, you know, it’s unrelenting … It’s just coming down in buckets.”
More than 100 schools across the southeast of a state famed for abundant sunshine will be closed on Monday. State rescue services said they received 100 requests an hour for help in recent days.
Among the six killed in the flooding were a 34-year-old man who tried to swim to safety after the waters submerged his car and another whose vehicle was swept away in the most populous state of New South Wales (NSW).
About 700 people were asked to evacuate from the city of Gympie on Saturday after the Mary River system surged beyond 22.06 m (72.4 ft) for the town’s worst flood since the 1880s.
Meteorologists said the deluge and thunderstorms would continue through Monday, before starting to ease off in Queensland, but moving south to New South Wales, where some communities at risk in its northeast have been told to evacuate.
The risk of riverine and flash flooding was “very real over coming days,” said Steph Cooke, the state’s emergency services minister.
Courtesy of reuters.com
Red Alert has been issued by the Met Office for south-east and eastern coastal districts of Scotland and north-east England
Red Alert has been issued by the Met Office for south-east and eastern coastal districts of Scotland and north-east England
Courtesy of Met Office
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