Tornadoes cause widespread damage in central, southern US, kill 11 in Arkansas, 1 in Oklahoma
MAYFLOWER, Ark. (AP) — A broad tornado sliced through Little Rock's suburbs Sunday, killing 11 people and leaving behind a miles-long path of destruction as a powerful system rumbling off the Plains provided a violent kick-start to the nation's tornado season.
The scene was the same in town after town, with emergency workers and volunteers going door-to-door to check for victims. State troopers performed the same task among the damaged and toppled 18-wheelers, cars and trucks on a two-mile stretch of Interstate 40, a major thoroughfare in and out of Arkansas' capital city.
"It turned pitch black," said Mark Ausbrooks, who was at his parents' home in Mayflower when the storm arrived. "I ran and got pillows to put over our heads and ... all hell broke loose."
"My parents' home, it's gone completely," he said.
Forecasters had warned for days that violent weather would strike this weekend, ending an unusually calm weather pattern. A morning storm forced a delay at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon and by afternoon the weather system had grown deadly, spawning a tornado that killed a person in Quapaw, Oklahoma, before moving north into Kansas and destroying dozens of homes in Baxter Springs.
The twister was estimated to be three blocks wide when it struck Baxter Springs, destroying 60 to 70 homes and 20 to 25 businesses in the city of roughly 4,200 residents, according to Cherokee County, Kan., emergency manager Jason Allison.
The twister injured 25 people in Baxter Springs and one person died, but it wasn't clear if the death was related to the storm, said Kari West, a spokeswoman for the Southeast Kansas Incident Management Team.
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