United States: Another tornado leaves a trail of death and destruction in Missouri

A tornado that hit southeastern Missouri on Wednesday caused widespread destruction and killed and wounded several people, authorities said, in a recent wave of such phenomena that hit the southern United States.

The tornado has passed a rural area of ​​Bollinger County, about 50 miles south of St. Louis, between 3:30 and 4 a.m., said Sgt. Clark Parrott of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

He said it caused “multiple injuries and multiple fatalities” but did not say how many or exactly where they occurred.

“The damage is pretty widespread. It’s heartbreaking to see,” Parrott admitted.

He said a search and rescue operation involving multiple agencies was underway. The crews have to use chainsaws to cut down trees and bushes to get to the houses.

These storms threatened a broad region that includes parts of the country still reeling from severe weather over the weekend.

storm wave

The Storm Prediction Center said up to 40 million people from Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit to Memphis, TennesseeThey were at risk from thunderstorms later Wednesday, with the greatest threat in lower Michigan, along the lower-middle Ohio River Valley and toward the southern half.

The storms were moving in Wednesday morning the ozarks in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, prompting tornado warnings.

One, in fact, devastated the Bollinger area in the early hours of the morning.

“A tornado has definitely touched down, there is damage to homes, we know there were people injured, we don’t know the extent” or if there are any fatalities, meteorologist Justin Gibbs of the Paducah, Kentucky Weather Service said.

Gibbs said it initially appears the tornado was on the ground 15 to 20 miles in the area about 90 miles south of St. Louis.

He added that the Weather Service will send a survey team to the area later Wednesday to assess the damage and determine the strength of the tornado.