A tornado wiped out most of a small farming town in southwestern Kansas, killing seven people and injuring at least 63, emergency officials said today.
The funnel cloud hit Greensburg yesterday evening, smashing buildings, overturning vehicles and knocking out communications towers. Aerial television news footage showed ruins throughout the community of about 1,800 people.
Rescue workers were going door to door, helped by National Guard troops. Some residents said on television that emergency sirens had given them about 20 minutes of warning before the driving winds hit the town.
“There is still a possibility that we do not have all the people accounted for,” said a spokeswoman for the state emergency management agency.
The tornado was “massive,” measuring up to 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, said Michael Lacy, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kansas. Winds were as strong as 165 mph (266 kph), he said.
http://www.dav1d.net/2007/05/05/tornado-rips-apart-a-house/
Watch video taken by storm chasers...
The funnel cloud hit Greensburg yesterday evening, smashing buildings, overturning vehicles and knocking out communications towers. Aerial television news footage showed ruins throughout the community of about 1,800 people.
Rescue workers were going door to door, helped by National Guard troops. Some residents said on television that emergency sirens had given them about 20 minutes of warning before the driving winds hit the town.
“There is still a possibility that we do not have all the people accounted for,” said a spokeswoman for the state emergency management agency.
The tornado was “massive,” measuring up to 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, said Michael Lacy, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kansas. Winds were as strong as 165 mph (266 kph), he said.
http://www.dav1d.net/2007/05/05/tornado-rips-apart-a-house/
Watch video taken by storm chasers...
