Hmmmmmmmmmm! I would not expect the WSJ to note the time of the year these events are appearing.
Tornado Outbreak Kills at Least 28
Storms Rack Several States - WSJ.com
The death toll from the tornadoes that slammed through southern Indiana, Ohio and northern Kentucky on Friday rose to 29, and authorities feared the number would rise as daylight broke on Saturday's search for survivors. Homes and businesses were leveled in those states and in Tennessee and northern Alabama.
Tornado damage was reported in most counties along the Indiana-Kentucky border, with severe damage in the Clark County towns of Marysville and Henryville, Ind., said Dan McCarthy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis.
Twin supercell storms passed through the area early in the afternoon and a second round packing high winds and large hail came through in the early evening, Mr. McCarthy said.
Spokesman Jet Quillen of the Indiana Joint Information Center said the dead included four in Jefferson County and three in Scott County, the Associated Press reported. Authorities also reported two deaths in Ripley County and one in Henryville.
Maj. Chuck Adams of the Clark County Sheriff's Department in Indiana told WDRB in Louisville, Ky., that authorities received reports of "extensive damage" in Henryville, including to the local high school, though he said students had been evacuated with only minor injuries.
Crews in Henryville worked through the night to clear roads and prepare for daylight rescue efforts. A path of carnage extended from Interstate 65 through Henryville Junior/Senior High School, where the tornado wrapped six cars into gnarled steel beams draped with insulation. In the parking lot, two school buses are totaled amid scattered bricks, notebooks and chairs.
Maj. Adams said a girl about 2 years old had been found alone in a field and taken to a hospital, and that authorities were looking for her family.
WDRB showed footage of a stretch of ruined buildings and overturned cars in nearby New Pekin, Ind., about 20 miles northwest of Louisville, where it said there were reports of people trapped in wreckage.
A Kentucky state government spokesman says the state's death toll from severe storms has risen to 12, the AP reported.
One new death was reported in Morgan County, where 50 Kentucky National Guard troops were deployed along with a rescue team. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe said Kentucky State Police also reported 40 troopers were being sent to the county.
Mr. Wolfe said four others were killed in Menifee County, four in Laurel County and three in Kenton County as tornadoes hit multiple counties, causing widespread injuries and destruction.
At least three tornadoes touched down in the state, causing 23,000 power outages.
Buddy Rogers, a spokesman for the state's emergency management division, said significant damage was reported to a rural fire station near Bedford.
Violent storms were expected to continue into the night, with the state at the highest risk until about 8 p.m. "We're always more concerned about nighttime storms, because people can't see them coming,'' said Mr. Rogers.
But he added that many residents were on alert for the latest round of storms after a dozen tornadoes hit parts of Kentucky on Wednesday. Eight people were hospitalized from those storms, but there were no fatalities, according to state authorities.
In Tennessee, at least 29 people were injured and dozens of homes damaged after more than 10 counties reported tornadoes Friday. But there were no reports of fatalities as of 8 p.m., according to Dean Flener, a spokesman at the state's emergency management agency.
Counties near Chattanooga and Nashville appeared among the hardest hit.
Alabama authorities reported that at least 40 homes were destroyed and another 100 suffered heavy damage Friday in Limestone and Madison counties, in the northern part of the state bordering Tennessee. There were no immediate reports of deaths in either county, after at least two tornadoes touched down.
Seven people were hospitalized in Huntsville's Madison County, where a maximum-security prison was also damaged. Additional personnel were sent to the prison, but inmates were secure and there were no reports of serious injuries at the prison, said Yasamie August, a spokeswoman at Alabama Emergency Management Agency.
The National Weather Service in Huntsville warned that another round of severe weather could hit Alabama later Friday.
Alabama suffered massive damage last April, when more than 60 twisters ripped through the state, killing 254 people, according to state authorities.
William Weatherford, 61 years old, of Borden, Ind., was on the phone with his son in New Pekin, about five miles away, as the tornado approached.
"The sky was dark, but it was massive white," Mr. Weatherford said of the tornado.
Suddenly, his son said he had to get off the phone.
"He told me 'Dad it's coming right our way, I've got to go.' "
Mr. Weatherford's son, a police officer, ran downstairs with his wife to a walk-in safe where he keeps his guns. His children were at school. The tornado struck the home next to his and destroyed it. He sent his father a text saying he was OK.
"I'm heading over there right now with my chain saw," said Mr. Weatherford who spoke as he was driving toward his son's home. "There are trees down, houses, businesses. It's a mess."
On Tuesday a cold front sliding down from the Rockies collided with a mass of warm moist air rising up from the Gulf of Mexico spawning a band of violent weather—including several tornadoes—stretching across the nation's center.
Hardest hit was Harrisburg, Ill., a small city of 9,000 at the southern edge of the state. That tornado, with winds over 170 mph, swept through the downtown before dawn leveling entire neighborhoods and leaving six dead.
Branson, Mo., was also hit. The tourist destination famed for its entertainment saw about a dozen hotels and five theaters damaged.
