Strong El Nino could mean weak hurricane season for East Coast

Climate scientists expect a particularly strong El Niño this summer to lead to fewer hurricanes in the Atlantic.

The probability that at least one major hurricane will make landfall along the East Coast in 2014 is 20 percent, down from the average of 31 percent over the last century, according to a Colorado State University report released April 10.

The report’s authors, Philip Klotzbach and William Gray, wrote that there should be below-average hurricane activity because of the “significant impact” El Niños have on Atlantic hurricane activity.

The probability of a major hurricane — with winds above 110 miles per hour — is estimated to be about 65 percent of the long-term average because of the emergence of the climate phenomenon.

It’s unclear how El Niños form, but abnormally warm water under the surface of the Pacific Ocean is a reliable indication that an El Niño is coming, according to a Nature Climate Change paper by climate scientists Raghu Murtugudde and Nandini Ramesh published in January 2013.

El Niños have varied effects based on how they move jet streams, fast-moving air currents that stretch around the globe.

A CNS analysis of wunderground.com and ggweather.com data found that on average, there were four fewer hurricanes in years classified as having had a strong El Niño than years without an El Niño.

For 2014, the CSU report predicted nine tropical storms (the long-term median is 12), three of which will become hurricanes (the median is 6.5), including one major hurricane (the median is 2).

Despite the optimistic forecast, Ed McDonough, public information officer for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, said he still worries that a hurricane could make its way up the coast to Maryland.

“It really doesn’t matter how many hurricanes we have in a season. If we have one hurricane, it’s a bad season,” he said. “I don’t worry so much about the forecast; it doesn’t really change how we prepare.”

Residential properties in Maryland have the 11th-highest potential for exposure to hurricane storm surge damage, according to 2013 data from CoreLogic, a business data and analytics firm.

Hurricane Isabel in 2003 brought record high tides to Maryland, breaking a 1933 record with a tide 7.58 feet above normal. Hurricanes Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and Irene, as well as Superstorm Sandy, also have brought flooding, heavy rain and wind and widespread power outages in the past decade.

Moderate to strong El Niños occur about once every 3 to 7 years on average, according to the CSU report. Murtugudde said that because strong El Niños tend to occur about every 15 years, “we’re due for a big one and this could be it.”

It will be important to monitor El Niño conditions as they develop this summer, Murtugudde said. But for now, it’s unlikely that an El Niño would have significant damaging effects in Maryland.

Usually, El Niño-influenced movements of the jet streams lead to increased rainfall in the Southwest and Southeast and increased snow in the Northeast, Murtugudde said.

If the El Niño gets too strong, however, it could contribute to severe winter weather and more sleet in Maryland, Murtugudde said. Although the jet stream shifts usually don’t affect mid-Atlantic states badly, it’s too early to tell what effects these shifts could have on the region.

The increased rainfall El Niños can bring can be helpful in minimizing droughts and wildfires in California, Murtugudde said. But particularly strong El Niños can still have damaging effects, including floods. The most recent “big” El Niño was in 1997-98, Murtugudde said, and it led to “huge” storms across California that caused mudslides.

California drought putting fish, birds and tree species at risk, scientists say

California’s drought is imperiling tricolored blackbirds, large trees and native fish, with some of the affected species already on the state’sendangered list and others likely headed there because of rapidly declining numbers, scientists say.

“The problems created by the drought are just a harbinger of things to come,” said Peter Moyle, a professor at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, which hosted a daylong Capitol summit Friday on economic and environmental costs of the drought.

“Native fishes and the ecosystems that support them are incredibly vulnerable to drought,” Moyle said. “There are currently 37 species of fish on the endangered species list in California – and there is every sign that that number will increase,” he said.

Eighty percent of those species face extinction by the year 2100 if present trends continue, Moyle said.

Native fish are able to weather natural drought years, but the development of the state’s water system has created the equivalent of perpetual drought conditions for many species, he said.

The state has 47 animal species on its endangered list, another 36 listed as “threatened,” plus six that are candidates for inclusion on one of the lists, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

One species that could end up on the candidate list is the tricolored blackbird, said Robert Meese, of UC Davis’ Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

“The tricolored blackbird may not be on the endangered list yet, but the drought is definitely having an effect,” Meese said. “The birds have not been reproducing.”

Reproduction declines have been noticed since 2007, before the drought, Meese said, but recent counts have shown even steeper declines. A statewide survey of tricolored blackbirds, known for their red shoulder patch with a bright white stripe, was recently concluded and the results are due out in three weeks.

“I suspect that survey will be on the order of 120,000 birds,” Meese said. “That is less than half of what was seen in 2011, and about 75 percent less than what was seen in 2008.”

At issue for the birds is a lack of insects since female birds require insects in their diet to form eggs. Also, young birds require insects during the first nine days of life, when they cannot digest plant material. Meese contends that the effects of the drought have created lower populations of insects, as well as less-extensive wetlands from which blackbirds can feed.

A perfect storm of pesticide use, drought and urban development is putting a lot of pressure on the tricolored blackbird, Meese said. Unlike the red-winged blackbird, the tricolored is a colonial species that tends to stay close to home when hunting for insects – in most cases it will not fly farther than three miles.

Meese has seen colonies in the Central Valley this year that are only a quarter of the size recorded last year – only 5,000 birds. Still, a shortage of the insects they feed on remains an issue in the bird’s territory.

“If you put that many mouths in a small area, that puts an intense pressure on the landscape to produce insects for that many birds,” he said.

It is not only fish and birds that are threatened by the drought, the scientists said. Large trees have been profoundly affected, especially in the West, a recent study found.

The study, conducted by researchers from the U.S. Geologic Survey and others, looked at tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada and found increased mortality as a result of drought and increased temperatures. The study established a link between tree mortality at low elevations and water deficits.

Andrew Fulks, who manages UC Davis’ Putah Creek Riparian Reserve, has seen the drought affect a tree closer to home – the foothill pine. The tree, native to California, prefers to grow in open woodlands in the 1,000- to 4,000-foot elevation range.

“We have seen more mortality in Yolo County due to drought stress,” he said. “The tree has been unable to fend off the dwarf pine mistletoe, which weakens the tree enough to allow it to be killed by it and the bark beetle.”

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/25/6355521/california-drought-putting-fish.html#storylink=cpy

California Drought Rain Washes Out Fear of New Dust Bowl

The rain that's fallen in fulsome fits and spattering starts this spring has punched enough of a dent in the drought that state officials now say just three towns and rural areas are in danger of running out of water - a sharp dip from the 17 that were facing Dust Bowl disaster in January.

Leaders of several of the Northern and Central California communities that have fended off the tumbleweeds credit more than the rain that finally started falling in February - their residents also met or exceeded mandatory rationing limits, helping reservoirs stay above the zero line.

But they say they're keeping a keen eye on conservation, given that the drought is still severe.

One town that fell off the state's list of the desiccation-endangered was the pretty Sonoma County burg of Cloverdale. Its 8,600 residents have slashed water usage so much since January that its leaders are confident the town will ride out the dry months even without a last-minute influx into its main water source, the Russian River.

The City Council imposed a mandatory 25 percent water conservation order in January, and is keeping it in place even though it learned this week that Cloverdale's users reduced usage by a whopping 40 percent since last spring.

'Doing quite well'

"We're doing quite well, between our conservation measures and fixing whatever leaks we could find," said Mayor Carol Russell, who has been handing out low-flow shower heads and egg timers to residents as drought-busting tools. The timers are to help make sure showers last no more than three minutes.

"We are a city of people who really pay attention to what's going on around them and who are sensitive to things like water," Russell said. "We don't just expect to turn on the tap and have water come out every time."

Two new groundwater wells being partly funded by a local brewery are due to begin adding to the town's water supply this summer, but "we are still going to come up with new - or maybe we should just say underscored - ways for people to conserve," the mayor said.

Like the latest list, the January roll call of 17 communities and water districts in danger of running out of water within 100 days was compiled by the state Department of Public Health. The endangered places initially ranged from Camp Condor in Kern County to Willits in Mendocino County.

In the department's update posted this week, the only two left on the list were Redwood Valley County Water District in Mendocino County and Whispering Pines Apartments in Mariposa County. A new entry, the city of Montague in Siskiyou County, brought the total on the endangered list to three.

The recent rains have also allowed state and federal water officials to slightly increase their expected deliveries from California's giant water projects to cities and farms.

"We've captured enough runoff in reservoirs that we can supply a minimal amount of water," said Ted Thomas, spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources, which manages the California State Water Project. The state project, whose water serves 25 million Californians, raised its projected allocation for customers last week from zero to 5 percent of what was requested.

Drought has worsened

Water supplies in the state and federal networks of reservoirs and canals, though, remain extremely low, and the projected deliveries are slight by historical standards. The National Climatic Data Center reported this week that California's drought has only worsened, and that for the first time in 15 years all of the state is considered to be in a moderate to exceptional state of drought.

Few communities feel that pinch more than Montague, population 1,400.

Officials said this month that Lake Shastina, the town's main water source, held only 8,400 acre-feet of water - about a quarter of the usual amount for this time of year - and termed the shortage the worst in 80 years.

"If something doesn't happen by August, we'll be out of water," said Chris Tyhurst, the city's water treatment plant supervisor.

State and local officials have embarked on an ambitious plan to build a 3-mile pipeline to carry water from the Shasta River to Montague. It's a project that city leaders say would normally take three years. They're hoping to finish in two months.

"If we can do that, we'll have water at the end of the summer," Tyhurst said. "If we don't, we'll be trucking it in."

In the meantime, city officials said they would turn off park sprinklers and asked residents to halt all outside watering, from washing cars to irrigating gardens.

The picture is far damper near the North Coast in Willits, a pit stop on Highway 101 that's also the terminus of the Skunk Train tourist line from Fort Bragg.

"That was a fabulous February and a miracle March, and our reservoirs are now full," said Mayor Holly Madrigal, whose 5,000-population town's two tiny reservoirs were nearly empty at the end of January. "We're really excited that we've bounced back and are off that list."

Restriction lifted

Willits water users were under a mandatory restriction limiting a family of four to 150 gallons a day, but that was lifted this week. Now everyone is asked to voluntarily reduce their water use by 25 percent. The town is also looking into tapping into groundwater supplies so it will be better positioned for future emergencies, Madrigal said.

"We still have to be very careful and make sure we preserve enough water for the fire season," she said, "which could be very bad this year because of the drought."

Rain, thunderstorms coming today

Scattered showers and thunderstorms are on tap for today. Highs will be in the middle 50s in southern Wisconsin, upper 60s in far northern Illinois, and lower 60s along the I-88 corridor.

Rain and thunderstorms will become more widespread late in the day and tonight. A severe threat exists nearby in the Quad Cities and Peoria; a strong storm or two cannot be ruled out locally late today and again late Monday.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms continue Monday with highs pushing back into the 60s.

The chance for rain will be on-an-off through next Saturday. Temperatures will cool into the 50s for highs.

forecasters: Brace for strong thunderstorms, possibly tornadoes

Heavy downpours, flooding, strong thunderstorms with lightning and hail, and possibly tornadoes.

These are the dangers weather forecasters are warning area residents to watch out for as the storm system that on Sunday wrecked parts of Arkansas comes our way Tuesday.

Chief Meteorologist Bob Jeswald of TV station WRBL said Monday afternoon that the severe weather appeared likely to arrive Tuesday from about 6 a.m. through 11 a.m., though storms could arrive earlier.

“It’s going to bring in some type of thunderstorms that could be super-cell type,” he said.

As the first wave of storms passes, the rain will continue, leaving the area under a flood watch through Wednesday night. From 1 to 3 inches of rain are possible, enough to swell creeks, raise the river and swamp roadways. The severity of the thunderstorms may vary, but the rain is certain, Jeswald said: “If you want to say what’s for sure, we are really for sure seeing a lot of rain, in inches of rain.” South of Columbus, 3 to 4 inches of rain may fall, he said.

As the front continues moving through the Chattahoochee Valley on Wednesday, a second line of storms is likely, as the rain continues, he said.

The National Weather Service is warning Georgia residents to be on the lookout for damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes, with “the potential for isolated, strong, long-tracked tornadoes.”

Here’s the weather service forecast for Columbus through Wednesday:

Tuesday: A 100 percent chance of thunderstorms, some severe, with a high near 85 and a southwest wind of 10-15 mph, gusting up to 25 mph. Tuesday night: A 90 percent chance of thunderstorms, some of which could be severe, with a low around 66, and a southwest wind of 10-15 mph, gusting up 30 mph.

Wednesday: A 100 percent chance of thunderstorms, a high near 78, and a southwest wind of 5-10 mph, gusting up to 15 mph.

Wednesday night: A 60 percent chance of thunderstorms, mainly before 8 p.m., with a low around 57.

So far the forecast shows the front should be gone by Thursday, when the high’s to be 72 degrees under partly sunny skies, with only a 20 percent chance of rain. Some significant cooling may follow, with a low in the 40s Friday night.

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2014/04/28/3078341/forecasters-brace-for-strong-thunderstorms.html?sp=/99/100/&ihp=1#storylink=cpy

Severe storms slam Midwest as first 2014 tornado death confirmed

Strong storms swept through parts of the Midwest on Sunday, spawning damaging winds, large hail and at least one tornado as the first official tornado death of 2014 was confirmed.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety confirms that an 11-month-old in Chowan county was injured in Friday's storms in the eastern part of the state and died Sunday, reports CBS affiliate WNCT in Greensville.

The 11-month-old was the first tornado related death in the nation of 2014, officials said. Governor Pat McCrory sent his prayers to the family and the 11-month-old at an afternoon press conference Sunday, while touring the devastation in Beaufort County.

Around 200 homes were damaged by a severe storm which produced a confirmed EF-3 tornado, with winds estimated at 150 mph. It's the latest in the season that an EF-3 tornado or stronger has been recorded since records going back to 1950.

Central Arkansas, including the Little Rock area, is at the highest risk of more severe storms later Sunday, The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said.

Forecasters also asked people to be alert Sunday for possible tornadoes in a wide swath of the Midwest and south, stretching from Omaha, Neb., south to Texas and east to northern Louisiana and Mississippi.

"The greatest risk for a few intense tornadoes will exist across much of Arkansas perhaps into western and central Missouri," a weather service advisory said.

Nebraska was the first state to have reported tornado. The National Weather Service said one touched down Sunday afternoon in a rural area in central Nebraska for a short amount of time, but no damage was immediately reported.

Tornado watches - which means twisters could develop but aren't an immediate threat - were widespread across the Midwest and southern states Sunday, being issued in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana.

Even if tornadoes don't form, some areas could see hail and high winds, forecasters said, warning the hail could be as big as baseballs and wind gusts could reach hurricane-force - 75 mph or higher.

A strong line of storms moved through west-central Missouri on Sunday afternoon, bringing winds that reached 70 mph hour near Chillicothe, Mo., that toppled some trees.

The Missouri Highway Patrol also reported a tractor-trailer was blown onto its side on Interstate 70 about 30 miles east of Kansas City about 1 p.m. No one was injured.

The weather service received a report from Plattsburg, Mo., where an anemometer measured 58 mph before it blew away. Golf ball-sized hail was reported at Overland Park, Kan., and Trimble, Mo.

A severe thunderstorm watch covered portions of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri through Sunday night. The primary threats were damaging wind gusts and large hail.

To the southeast, northern Louisiana and Mississippi were bracing for severe storms along with the possibility of flash flooding. The predictions prompted Barksdale Air Force Base near Bossier City, La., to cancel its air show on Sunday. The National Weather Service said northern Alabama could see rain and flash flooding, while central and northern Georgia could see storms and heavy rain.

Sunday was the third anniversary of a 226-tornado day, which struck parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia and killed 316 people.

Meanwhile, runners in Oklahoma City took shelter early Sunday as hail and high winds delayed the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon by 105 minutes to let a severe thunderstorm pass through.

Emergency crews searching for survivors after tornadoes kill at least 17 in central US

Emergency officials and rescue crews are searching for survivors after a powerful storm system moved through the central and southern United States Sunday, spawning multiple tornadoes that killed at least 17 people.

On Monday night, Matt DeCample, a spokesman for Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's office, confirmed a 15th fatality from the powerful tornado that carved an 80-mile path of destruction through suburbs north of the state capital of Little Rock, Ark.

“Just looking at the damage, this may be one of the strongest that we've seen,” Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said Monday. “And preliminarily -- we haven't done any records checking -- but it looks like this is the largest loss of life that we've seen in one tornado incident since I've been governor.”

Beebe said he suspects it will take days to estimate the total amount of damage, but as of now, the primary focus is on search and rescue efforts and then security “for the rest of the people to ensure that people that don't need to be messing around in an area where they could loot or something.”

Brandon Morris, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, said crews were sifting through the rubble Monday in the hope of uncovering survivors and to assess the full extent of the destruction.

"Right now, the main focus is life safety," Morris said. "We're trying to make sure everyone is accounted for."

A spokesman for Faulkner County released the identities of the 11 people killed in the two towns. The victims included eight people in Vilonia, including two children, and three people in Mayflower.

A father and his two daughters were killed in the same storm system on the Pulaski-Saline county line near Little Rock, while a 55-year-old woman died in White County in northern Arkansas.

The tornado, which grew to be a half-mile wide, turned buildings into rubble and stripped the leaves and smaller branches off of trees.

"There's just really nothing there anymore. We're probably going to have to start all over again," Vilonia Schools Superintendent Frank Mitchell said early Monday after surveying what had been a $14 million intermediate school set to open this fall.

An Oklahoma county sheriff's dispatcher reported that one person had died in the town of Quapaw, near the state's borders with Kansas and Missouri. Fox News has also confirmed that another person died when a tornado hit Keokuk County, Iowa.

The Arkansas tornado touched down about 10 miles west of Little Rock at around 7 p.m. local time and moved northeastward for at least 30 miles, the National Weather Service reported. 

The twister shredded cars, trucks and 18-wheelers stuck along Interstate 40 north of Little Rock. After the storm passed, tractor-trailer rigs tried to navigate through the damage to continue their journeys, while gawkers held smartphones to their windows to offer a grim glimpse of the destruction.

State troopers went vehicle-to-vehicle to check on motorists and said with genuine surprise that no one was killed.

"About 30 vehicles -- large trucks, sedans, pickup trucks -- were going through there when the funnel cloud passed over," said Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police.

Karla Ault, a Vilonia High School volleyball coach, said she sheltered in the school gymnasium as the storm approached. After it passed, her husband told her their home was gone -- reduced to the slab on which it had sat.

"I'm just kind of numb. It's just shock that you lost everything. You don't understand everything you have until you realize that all I've got now is just what I have on," Ault said.

The National Weather Service in North Little Rock said it was virtually certain that the Mayflower and Vilonia storm would be rated as the nation's strongest twister to date this year.

"It has the potential to be EF3 or greater," said meteorologist Jeff Hood. EF3 storms have winds greater than 136 mph. "Based on some of the footage we've seen from Mayflower and where it crossed Interstate 40, things were wrecked in a very significant way."

From communities west of Little Rock to others well north of the capital, emergency workers and volunteers were going door-to-door checking for victims.

"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.

Becky Naylor, of Mayflower, said she and her family went to their storm cellar after hearing that tornado debris was falling in nearby Morgan. Naylor, 57, said there were between 20 and 22 people in the cellar and they were "packed like sardines."

"Everyone is welcome to come into it," she said. "In fact, people were pulling off the highways and were just running in."

She said the men held the cellar doors shut while the tornado's winds tried to rip them open.

"It sounded like a constant rolling, roaring sound," she said. "Trees were really bending and the light poles were actually shaking and moving. That's before we shut the door and we've only shut the door to the storm cellar two times."

The White House issued a statement in which President Barack Obama promised that the federal government would help in the recovery and praised the heroic efforts of first-responders and neighbors.

"Your country will be there to help you recover and rebuild as long as it takes," Obama said.

The Arkansas tornado was one of several that touched down Sunday as a large storm system moved through parts of the Plains, Midwest and South.

Less than two hours before the Arkansas tornado struck, a twister hit the small northeastern Oklahoma community of Quapaw, killing at least one person and injuring six others, Ottawa County sheriff's dispatcher Kelli Soechs said. Earlier Sunday, another Ottawa County sheriff's dispatcher reported that two people were killed. Soechs declined to explain the discrepancy.

Five of the six injured in Quapaw were treated and released from Baptist Regional Health Center in Miami, Okla., said hospital spokeswoman Kristie Wallace. The sixth, who was in fair condition with a broken bone, was kept overnight, she said.

Ottawa County Emergency Management director Joe Dan Morgan said Quapaw, which has about 900 residents, was heavily damaged by the tornado.

"Looks like about half of town got extensive damage as well as the fire department," Morgan said.

After hitting Quapaw, the tornado moved northward into Kansas and struck Baxter Springs, a city of about 4,200 residents about 5 miles away. Cherokee County, Kan., sheriff's dispatcher Josh Harvey said the tornado that hit Baxter Springs injured several people and caused extensive damage, but that no deaths had been reported. He said first responders were going from house to house checking on residents' wellbeing.

Tornadoes also touched down Sunday in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, including one northwest of Joplin, Mo., where a massive tornado in May 2011 killed 161 people, injured many others and leveled a large swath of the city. Sunday's twister didn't hit Joplin.

The first reported tornado Sunday touched down in a rural area in central in Nebraska. The weather service said it remained on the ground for only a short time, and there were no immediate reports of damage.

Gusts of up to 60 mph were registered during a storm that hit southeastern Iowa on Sunday that damaged several buildings, including a barn that injured someone when it was blown over.

Earlier Sunday afternoon, a strong line of storms moved through west-central Missouri, bringing winds that reached 70 mph hour near Chillicothe, Mo., that toppled some trees.

The Missouri Highway Patrol also reported a tractor-trailer was blown onto its side on Interstate 70 about 30 miles east of Kansas City about 1 p.m. No one was injured. The weather service received a report from Plattsburg, Mo., where an anemometer measured 58 mph before it blew away. Golf ball-sized hail was reported at Overland Park, Kan., and Trimble, Mo.

Sunday was also the third anniversary of a 122-tornado day, which struck parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia and killed 316 people.

U.S. Storm system that killed 16 causes tornado in Mississippi

A ferocious storm system caused a twister in Mississippi and threatened tens of millions of people across the U.S. Southeast on Monday, a day after it spawned tornadoes that killed 16 people and tossed cars like toys in Arkansas and other states.

A tornado went through Tupelo, Mississippi in the northern part of the state at about 3 p.m. (1800 GMT), damaging hundreds of homes, downing power lines and toppling trees, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant told CNN.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries after six instances of tornadoes touching down in the state.

"It is not over. This is going to be a prolonged storm," Bryant said.

Parts of Alabama, western Georgia and Tennessee also were at risk as the storm system that produced the series of tornadoes headed east toward the Mid-Atlantic states.

Rescue workers, volunteers and victims have been sifting through the rubble in the hardest-hit state of Arkansas, looking for survivors in central Faulkner County where a tornado reduced homes to splinters, snapped power lines and mangled trees.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said at least 14 people died statewide in the storm that authorities said produced the first fatalities of this year's U.S. tornado season. He previously told a news conference 16 had been killed but later said there was a mistake in calculation.

Nine of the victims came from the same street in the town of Vilonia, with a population of about 4,100, where a new intermediate school set to open in August was heavily damaged by a tractor trailer blown into its roof. A steel farm shop anchored to concrete was erased from the landscape.

Beebe told reporters of the capricious nature of tornadoes. He said a woman died when the door of her home's reinforced safe room collapsed, while a father and three daughters survived by seeking shelter in a bathtub that was flipped over in winds that leveled the house.

One person was killed in neighboring Oklahoma and another in Iowa, state authorities said.

'LONG ROAD TO HEALING'

"Everything is just leveled to the ground," Vilonia resident Matt Rothacher said. "It cut a zig-zag right through town."

Rothacher was at home with his wife and four children when the tornado passed through. While his home survived, The Valley Church where he serves as pastor was flattened.

Two elementary school-aged boys died in their home after having a pizza dinner at a friend's home, said Rothacher, who was helping provide grief counseling to the family that had sent the two boys home after they finished their meal as the storm approached.

The home that the boys left survived the tornado. The home the boys returned to did not, Rothacher said.

"These homes, these lives, won't be put back together anytime soon. It will be a long road to healing for these families."

The White House said President Barack Obama, who has been on a trip abroad, called Beebe to receive an update on the damage and to offer his condolences.

Medical officials reported at least 100 people in Arkansas were injured.

"It's so heartbreaking. I've never seen destruction like this before," U.S. Representative Tim Griffin told reporters after touring Vilonia, which was previously hit by a tornado about three years ago. "I saw a Dr. Seuss book in the rubble. I saw a Spider-Man shirt in the rubble. It just breaks your heart."

The roar of heavy equipment filled the air in Vilonia and nearby Mayflower as crews worked to clear debris off the streets or to load rubble onto trucks for removal.

TORNADO WARNING PERSISTS

The National Weather Service said the threat of tornadoes will last for several days as a strong weather system interacts with a large area of instability across the central and southern United States.

"This is a multi-day event and today is the second day of significant tornado risk and unfortunately, probably not the last," said Bill Bunting, operations chief at the National Weather Service's Storm Predictions Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency for four counties where tornadoes hit on Friday and warned that more rough weather was on the way.

More than 10,000 people were without power in Arkansas on Monday morning, officials said.

The Arkansas National Guard was deployed to sift through the wreckage. Beebe declared a state of disaster for Faulkner and two other counties.

A tornado in Baxter Springs, Kansas that touched down on Sunday evening destroyed as many as 70 homes and 25 businesses and injured 34 people, of whom nine were hospitalized, state and county officials said. One person was killed in Kansas, likely due to the same storm system, officials said.

U.S. Storm system that killed 16 causes tornado in Mississippi

A ferocious storm system caused a twister in Mississippi and threatened tens of millions of people across the U.S. Southeast on Monday, a day after it spawned tornadoes that killed 16 people and tossed cars like toys in Arkansas and other states.

A tornado went through Tupelo, Mississippi in the northern part of the state at about 3 p.m. (1800 GMT), damaging hundreds of homes, downing power lines and toppling trees, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant told CNN.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries after six instances of tornadoes touching down in the state.

"It is not over. This is going to be a prolonged storm," Bryant said.

Parts of Alabama, western Georgia and Tennessee also were at risk as the storm system that produced the series of tornadoes headed east toward the Mid-Atlantic states.

Rescue workers, volunteers and victims have been sifting through the rubble in the hardest-hit state of Arkansas, looking for survivors in central Faulkner County where a tornado reduced homes to splinters, snapped power lines and mangled trees.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said at least 14 people died statewide in the storm that authorities said produced the first fatalities of this year's U.S. tornado season. He previously told a news conference 16 had been killed but later said there was a mistake in calculation.

Nine of the victims came from the same street in the town of Vilonia, with a population of about 4,100, where a new intermediate school set to open in August was heavily damaged by a tractor trailer blown into its roof. A steel farm shop anchored to concrete was erased from the landscape.

Beebe told reporters of the capricious nature of tornadoes. He said a woman died when the door of her home's reinforced safe room collapsed, while a father and three daughters survived by seeking shelter in a bathtub that was flipped over in winds that leveled the house.

One person was killed in neighboring Oklahoma and another in Iowa, state authorities said.

'LONG ROAD TO HEALING'

"Everything is just leveled to the ground," Vilonia resident Matt Rothacher said. "It cut a zig-zag right through town."

Rothacher was at home with his wife and four children when the tornado passed through. While his home survived, The Valley Church where he serves as pastor was flattened.

Two elementary school-aged boys died in their home after having a pizza dinner at a friend's home, said Rothacher, who was helping provide grief counseling to the family that had sent the two boys home after they finished their meal as the storm approached.

The home that the boys left survived the tornado. The home the boys returned to did not, Rothacher said.

"These homes, these lives, won't be put back together anytime soon. It will be a long road to healing for these families."

The White House said President Barack Obama, who has been on a trip abroad, called Beebe to receive an update on the damage and to offer his condolences.

Medical officials reported at least 100 people in Arkansas were injured.

"It's so heartbreaking. I've never seen destruction like this before," U.S. Representative Tim Griffin told reporters after touring Vilonia, which was previously hit by a tornado about three years ago. "I saw a Dr. Seuss book in the rubble. I saw a Spider-Man shirt in the rubble. It just breaks your heart."

The roar of heavy equipment filled the air in Vilonia and nearby Mayflower as crews worked to clear debris off the streets or to load rubble onto trucks for removal.

TORNADO WARNING PERSISTS

The National Weather Service said the threat of tornadoes will last for several days as a strong weather system interacts with a large area of instability across the central and southern United States.

"This is a multi-day event and today is the second day of significant tornado risk and unfortunately, probably not the last," said Bill Bunting, operations chief at the National Weather Service's Storm Predictions Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency for four counties where tornadoes hit on Friday and warned that more rough weather was on the way.

More than 10,000 people were without power in Arkansas on Monday morning, officials said.

The Arkansas National Guard was deployed to sift through the wreckage. Beebe declared a state of disaster for Faulkner and two other counties.

A tornado in Baxter Springs, Kansas that touched down on Sunday evening destroyed as many as 70 homes and 25 businesses and injured 34 people, of whom nine were hospitalized, state and county officials said. One person was killed in Kansas, likely due to the same storm system, officials said.