Tornadoes

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      Thunderstorms in Omaha Leave Thousands Without Power

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      Two tornadoes were also reported near the city, which was battered by winds of up to 80 m.p.h. on Wednesday. Other parts of the Midwest were under severe thunderstorm warnings.Destructive thunderstorms lashed Omaha, Neb., on Wednesday evening, leaving more than 200,000 customers without power, shutting down the city’s airport and felling trees. Two tornadoes were reported on the city’s outskirts, the National Weather Service said.The storms swept across south-central Nebraska on Wednesday evening, bringing wind gusts of 65 to 80 miles per hour, according to the Weather Service, before moving east into Iowa, where tree damage was also reported in the Des Moines area. By about 9:20 p.m., the storms had weakened, the Weather Service said. Other parts of the Midwest, including in Kansas and South Dakota, were also under severe thunderstorm warnings.One tornado was reported in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, just east of Omaha, and another in Cass County, Neb., to the city’s southeast.Weather Damage Around OmahaReports by trained spotters of tornadoes or high winds and damage believed to be caused by them. More

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      Several Tornadoes Reported as Storm Moves Through Chicago Area

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      More than 13 million people were under tornado warning or watch alerts on Monday night in Chicago, and parts of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.Multiple tornadoes were reported in the Midwest as thunderstorms battered the region on Monday. More than 13 million people were still under tornado warning or watch alerts.A line of “destructive thunderstorms” was moving through northeastern Illinois, including Chicago, on Monday night, and several tornadoes had been reported, the National Weather Service’s Chicago bureau said. It added that the agency’s staff had to briefly seek shelter from a tornado.Just before 9 p.m., the agency reported a tornado near Sugar Grove, about 40 miles west of Chicago, that was confirmed by radar.The storms would soon move east into northwestern Indiana, the Weather Service said.A tornado warning was in place for parts of DuPage, Lake and Cook counties in northeastern Illinois, which included O’Hare Airport, until 10 p.m., with the Weather Service warning of flying debris and likely damage to mobile homes, roofs, windows and vehicles.A tornado watch alert was in place until 1 a.m. on Tuesday for parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.This is a developing story. More

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      Storm Damages Homes in Washington Suburbs Amid Tornado Warnings

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      A handful of injuries were reported in Gaithersburg, Md., a suburb of the nation’s capital. Baltimore is also under a tornado warning and flood watch.A storm swept through the suburbs of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday evening amid tornado warnings, damaging a few homes in Gaithersburg, Md., and injuring a handful of people, officials said.Officials advised people to take cover in Montgomery County in Maryland after the National Weather Service office in Washington issued a tornado warning and called it a “particularly dangerous situation.”“We believe there were multiple tornadoes,” said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.Tornadoes in the EastLocations of tornado sightings or damage reported by trained spotters. More

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      Tornado Devastates Arkansas Town

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      Rogers, Ark., was one of many places hit hard by the rash of storms over Memorial Day weekend across the South.Melisa Swearingen woke up early on Sunday morning as a tornado bore down on her home in the northwestern corner of Arkansas. As she raced down the stairs with her toddler, she looked out the window and saw a 40-foot tree falling toward the house.“The whole house was shaking like a roller coaster,” Ms. Swearingen said in an interview outside her home. “I thought, This was it.”But the tree smashed through a room above the family’s garage, giving her time to gather her 7-year-old son. As another tree crushed the other side of the home, she, her husband and their children huddled in a first-floor bedroom. “I thought the house would be torn open and we’d get suctioned up,” Ms. Swearingen, 35, said.Nearby, Byron Copeland, 38, had sent his wife, their three children and the family dogs to the basement, while he monitored the storm. Then came the terrifying booms of exploding electrical transformers. “I ran toward the basement like a little girl,” Mr. Copeland said. As they waited for the weather to pass, he said, the family sang the lullaby “Jesus Loves Me.”The Swearingens and the Copelands were among the millions of families whose lives were upended by the rash of tornadoes that ravaged parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Kentucky over Memorial Day weekend. At least 23 people were killed, including eight people in Arkansas. Melisa Swearingen, second from left, stood amid debris being removed from her front yard on Monday.Melyssa St. Michael for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Tornado Destroys Homes, Kills at Least One in Kansas

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      A powerful tornado ripped through a community in northeastern Kansas on Tuesday afternoon, destroying dozens of homes and structures and killing at least one person, officials said.A powerful tornado shredded homes and killed at least one person in a small Kansas town on Tuesday, as severe weather threatened millions of people across the region.The tornado hit Westmoreland, a community of about 700, roughly 100 miles west of Kansas City, at about 4:40 p.m., Pottawatomie County officials said.The storm left at least one person dead, destroyed at least 22 homes and damaged another 13, according to Vivienne Leyva, a public information officer for nearby Riley County. Additionally, four commercial buildings were destroyed and another was damaged, Ms. Leyva said.Westmoreland was the only community struck by the tornado, she added. The destruction came amid a night of severe weather across the Central United States. More than four million people were under a severe thunderstorm or tornado watch Tuesday night, according to the National Weather Service. More

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      Tornado Kills 5 in Guangzhou, a Chinese City Battered by Recent Rains

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      Videos shared by Chinese official media showed transmission towers and power lines igniting and debris swirling in the air in the city, a manufacturing and technology hub by the Pearl River.A tornado that swept through the southern Chinese economic hub of Guangzhou killed five people and damaged scores of factory buildings on Saturday.The tornado struck at about 3 p.m. and injured another 33 people as it slammed through the Baiyun district, in the city’s northern suburbs, the local government said. It lasted about four minutes. Hailstones, some with diameters of around 2 inches, also fell over parts of the city.Videos shared by Chinese official media showed transmission towers and power lines igniting and debris swirling in the air, against a backdrop of a giant funnel that had darkened the midafternoon sky.Guangzhou, a sprawling city of 19 million people and a manufacturing and technology hub, has been battered this month by heavy spring downpours. Flooding across Guangdong Province, of which Guangzhou is the capital, had already led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people last week.The flow of warm, humid air from the South China Sea had led to the accumulation of a “large amount of unstable energy” near the ground, according to the Guangzhou government.The authorities said a total of 141 factory buildings were damaged by the tornado and latest rains. Wind speeds had reached a maximum of about 46 miles per hour.Search and rescue work had been concluded by Saturday evening, state media said. But officials warned that torrential rains and heavy wind and lightning would likely continue in Guangzhou in the coming days, as China prepares for a five-day Labor Day holiday beginning Wednesday.One video shared by the Guangzhou government reminded residents not to go outdoors in heavy hail, or if they had to, to wear helmets.The brown waters of the Pearl River flow through the heart of Guangzhou, much of which is very low-lying and has a long history of flooding.The city has undertaken extensive efforts over the past few decades to improve its resistance to the inundations that have long accompanied the annual arrival of heavy rainstorms in late spring.Municipal regulations have required in recent years that new apartment buildings have shops, not apartments, on the ground floor. The goal is to minimize the risk to human life during floods.Janet Yellen, the U.S. treasury secretary, visited Guangzhou during an official visit to China earlier this month. The city recently held the Canton Fair, a major trade exhibition.Keith Bradsher More

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      Severe Weather Expected to Bring Tornadoes and Flooding to Great Plains

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      Forecasters on Saturday said that “dangerous supercell thunderstorms” were possible that could produce strong tornadoes.The threat of tornadoes loomed across parts of the Central U.S. as warnings were posted in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas amid severe thunderstorms and high winds throughout the Great Plains on Saturday.The severe weather followed a day in which tornadoes tore through parts of Nebraska and Iowa, leveling dozens of homes on Friday.Tornadoes Friday and SaturdayLocations of tornado sightings or damage reported by trained spotters. More

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      Severe Weather Tears Through Midwest

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      A storm, believed to be a tornado, ripped through a mobile home community in eastern Indiana. Ohio and Kentucky were also hit.Tornadoes were reported as storms tore through Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio on Thursday, according to news reports.Local officials believe a tornado hit a trailer park in Winchester, in eastern Indiana, according to 13 WTHR, an NBC News affiliate. However, meteorologists said they were still working to confirm that a tornado had touched down there.Tornadoes in the MidwestLocations of tornado sightings or damage reported by trained spotters. More