US
like a 'war zone' after 500
tornadoes in 30 days
The
US has been battered by twisters, with a 40-year record broken as 12
days in a row pass with at least eight tornado reports.
29
May, 2019
America
has been hit with 500 tornadoes in the last 30 days, with Tuesday
breaking a 40-year record by marking the 12th day in a row with at
least eight tornado reports, according to US forecasters.
Severe
weather has been sweeping across the US Midwest, injuring hundreds
and destroying buildings, prompting claims areas of the country have
been left "like a war zone".
Some
55 twisters are estimated to have touched down on Monday across eight
states stretching eastward from Idaho and Colorado.
Kansas
City was badly hit by a large and dangerous tornado on Tuesday, with
12 people being treated at hospital and Kansas City International
Airport temporarily suspending flights.
An
Ohio school class room is left with no roof
Image:
Travellers
and employees had to shelter in car park tunnels to avoid the worst
of the storm.
Overnight,
a swarm of twisters swept through Indiana and Ohio and left one
person dead and at least 130 injured.
Roofs
have been blown off, houses knocked off their foundations, trees
uprooted and vital power lines have collapsed.
Trucks
end up piled on top of each other in Missouri earlier this month
Image:
Trucks
end up piled on top of each other in Missouri earlier this month
"I
just got down on all fours and covered my head with my hands,"
he said.
In
Celina, Ohio, 82-year-old Melvin Dale Hanna died when a parked car
was thrown into his house, the mayor Jeffrey Hazel confirmed, adding:
"There's areas that truly look like a war zone."
Weather
warnings are stretching across to the east coast with parts of
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York City on alert.
Dr
Patrick Marsh, warning coordination meteorologist at the national
weather service's storm prediction centre, tweeted there had been 500
filtered eyewitness tornado reports during the past 30 days.
He
said: "Only four periods in the official database ever exceed
500 *observed* tornadoes in 30 days: 2003, 2004, 2008, and 2011."
Human
sightings remain an important tool in detecting tornadoes, as the
radar technology used by US meteorologists is not able to always
"see" twisters. A network of storm spotters are used across
the country to monitor numbers.
"We
are flirting in uncharted territory," Dr Marsh told The New York
Times.
"Typically,
you’d see a break of a day or two in between these long stretches,
but we’re just not getting that right now."
Referring
to the 55 tornadoes on Monday, Dr Marsh said outbreaks of 50 or more
tornadoes are not uncommon. It has happened 63 times in US history,
with three instances of more than 100 twisters.
A
destroyed neighborrhood in north Dayton, Ohio, this week
Image:
However,
he added Monday's weather was unusual because it stretched over a
wide geographic area and the amount of other twister activity in
recent weeks.
The
extreme weather is the result of high pressure over the south-east
and an unusually cold trough over the Rockies. This has forced warm,
moist air into the central US, triggering the dangerous storms.
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