The central United States braced for another round of violent weather today after high winds, hail, and tornadoes struck the region over the weekend, killing one man and injuring more than 20 people.
Severe storms were expected to pummel several states, with northwest Arkansas, far southeast Kansas, southern Missouri, most of Oklahoma and northern Texas facing the greatest risk, according to the National Weather Service.
«A very moist atmosphere will become quite unstable again today,» the weather service said. «This combined with strong favorable winds aloft will result in a risk of a few strong tornadoes, very large hail and damaging winds in the most intense storms.»
Some residents of Oklahoma were still recovering from a strong storm front that hammered the state yesterday with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes, including a half-mile-wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City.
One man died at a mobile home park on the edge of the community of Bethel Acres near Oklahoma City and at least 21 people were injured around the state as storms toppled trees and ripped through rooftops, said Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management.
Several hundred homes and buildings were thought to have been damaged or destroyed and approximately 7,000 customers were left without power in Oklahoma, said Cain.
«There is definitely quite a bit of damage,» she said.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared 16 counties disaster areas, and she and other local and state officials were touring damaged areasthis morning.
Source:Buenos Aires Herald