Aftermath: 65 Deadly Tornadoes Unleashed on Midwest
Pastor Dale Morgan
Aftermath: 65 Deadly Tornadoes Unleashed on Midwest*
Friday March 30, 2007 10:01 AM
By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Joyce Eels said she can live with the fact that a
tornado took off most of the roof of her home - she's just thankful to
be alive.
``All the important things are OK,'' she said Thursday. ``My husband and
family are OK. That's the important stuff.''
A powerful spring storm unleashed dozens of tornadoes as it moved
through the Midwest on Wednesday and Thursday, including a twister in
Oklahoma City that injured at least five people - two of them critically.
Tornadoes or high winds are believed to have killed at least four people
in three states, including a woman who was flung into a tree by a
twister that witnesses said was as wide as two football fields.
At least 65 tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado
and Nebraska by late Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.
In Oklahoma, a 7-year-old girl was treated at a hospital for cuts, and
two people were injured when a van was thrown from the Kilpatrick
Turnpike into a concrete culvert, said Oklahoma City Deputy Fire Chief
Tony Young.
Vance and Barbra Woodbury were killed Wednesday when a twister blew
apart their home near the Panhandle community of Elmwood.
``We set off the tornado sirens, but they live too far out to hear
them,'' said Dixie Parker, Beaver County's emergency management
director. ``The house was just flattened, the out buildings are gone.
All that's left is debris.''
In Colorado, Rosemary Rosales, 28, died after being found critically
injured in a tree after a huge tornado destroyed several homes and
damaged dozens of others in Holly, a town of 1,000 people about 235
miles southeast of Denver near the Kansas line.
``All they heard was this big ugly noise, and they didn't have no time
to run,'' said Victoria Rosales, the victim's sister.
In the Texas Panhandle, Monte Ford, 53, was killed when he was thrown
from his trailer after high winds caused it to roll. Storms moving
across the northern part of the state brought up to 7 inches of rain in
areas and led to numerous high-water rescues on flooded roads.
Tornadoes uprooted trees, overturned trucks and injured at least three
people in the Panhandle. The region also got baseball-sized hail.
On Thursday, flooding plagued parts of the state, with traffic accidents
and high-water rescues reported.
Oklahomans were bracing for more severe weather, as watches and warnings
continued.
The same storm system dumped snow on Wyoming, causing highway pileups
and closing large portions of three interstates. In the Wind River
Mountains, 58 inches of snow had fallen by Thursday morning.
At least 800 homes in north-central Wyoming were without heat and
electricity Thursday, down from about 2,200 the day before.
---
Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin in Colorado contributed to this
report.