Tornadoes and storms in US Midwest kill 35
35 people have died in the states of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio after tornadoes left a trail of devastation across the US Midwest. Rescuers are warning that the death toll could rise.
At least 13 people were killed in southern Indiana, another 12 in neighbouring Kentucky, and two more in Ohio from storms that battered a band of states from Ohio to Alabama, according to officials.
“We are no match for Mother Nature at her worst,” Indiana Governor Mitchel Daniels said in a statement.
Another possible storm-related death occurred in Henryville, Indiana, where television images showed homes ripped apart.
We are no match for mother nature at her worst. Mitchel Daniels, Indiana governor
Storm warnings were issued throughout the day yesterday, from the Midwest to the south east. Schools, government offices and businesses closed before the storms, which came after a series of tornadoes earlier in the week killed 13 people in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee.
“We may not be done yet,” said a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The line of storms appeared to weaken as night fell and temperatures dropped on Friday. But the Storm Prediction Centre said that a massive band of storms across the US is putting an estimated 10 million people at high risk of dangerous weather.
The violent storms in the United States this week have raised fears that 2012 will be another bad year for tornadoes. Last year 550 deaths in the US were blamed on “twisters”, the deadliest year in nearly a century, according to the US National Weather Service.
