two tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma and two
more hit Arkansas on Thursday as a powerful storm
system moved through the middle of the country, injuring at least nine people.
The National Weather Service reported two tornadoes on the
ground near Perkins and Ripley in north central Oklahoma and another west of
Oden, Ark.
All nine of the
injured were in Arkansas; two of the injuries were attributed to a lightning
strike in Rogers. Lightning was also believed to have started a fire that
destroyed two floors of a condominium building in northwestern Indiana.
Some trees, homes
and power lines were damaged in Arkansas, and the National Weather Service
confirmed that tornadoes touched down in Montgomery County and in Clark County.
Emergency Management spokesman Tommy Jackson said
first responders had trouble reaching a destroyed home where one person was
hurt because a number of trees were blocking the road.
In Oklahoma, Perkins Emergency Management Director Travis Majors
said there were no injuries or damage there. Ripley, about 10 miles east of
Perkins, did not seem to have significant damage. The Payne County emergency
management director did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Storms also caused
problems in the western Iowa town of Onawa, damaging buildings, breaking
windows, tearing awnings and blowing down trees and a stoplight. National
Weather Service meteorologist Dave Fobert told the Sioux City Journal that the
damage apparently was caused by a thunderstorm, not a tornado.
Thursday’s tornadoes
were much less dangerous than the EF5 storm that struck Moore, Okla., on May 20
and killed 24 along its 17-mile path. The U.S. averages more than 1,200
tornadoes a year, but top-of-the-scale storms like the one in Moore — with
winds over 200 mph — happen only about once per year. The tornado last week was
the nation’s first EF5 since 2011.
Some strong winds
blew through Moore, in suburban Oklahoma City, on
Thursday, but the weather didn’t cause significant problems for crews cleaning
up from last week’s tornado.
This spring’s
tornado season got a late start, with unusually cool weather keeping funnel
clouds at bay until mid-May. The season usually starts in March and then ramps
up for the next couple of months.
The Storm Prediction
Center in Norman, Okla., warned that there was a moderate risk of severe
weather Thursday over much of eastern and central
Oklahoma, with storms also possible in the rest of the central United
States from Texas to Wisconsin.
Flooding is also a concern in parts of
Missouri, Iowa and Illinois through Sunday.
In addition to
tornadoes, the storms were bringing rain and hail.
“Right now
we’ve been getting a few thunderstorms, but they’re very severe supercell
thunderstorms,” said Michael Scotten, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services. “The whole storm
rotates, and they produce on occasion some tornadoes and heavy hail.”
The severe weather
threat led organizers to postpone the start of the outdoor Wakarusa Music Festival
near Ozark, Ark., which will feature Widespread Panic, The Black Crowes and the
rapper Snoop Lion (formerly known as Snoop Dogg). An estimated 15,000 sought
shelter from lightning and wind Thursday, according to the Times Record
newspaper of Fort Smith, Ark.
Of the 60 EF5
tornadoes since 1950, Oklahoma and Alabama have been struck the most, seven
times each. More than half of these top-of-the-scale twisters have occurred in
just five states: Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
