Multiple tornadoes hit U.S. Midwest

More than 100 reported tornadoes tore through several U.S. Midwestern states over the weekend, with the town of Woodward, Oklahoma hit by a twister that left at least five people dead and more than two dozen injured.

The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Centre in Norman, Oklahoma issued a warning on Apr. 13 about the advance of a “high-end, life threatening event” in the region due to an exceptionally strong storm system. That system spawned tornadoes, hail and lightning in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa Apr. 14 and 15.

Reports from the Associated Press indicated a tornado touched down in the early hours of Apr. 15, destroying 89 homes and 13 businesses in Woodward, roughly 240 km northwest of Oklahoma City. The fatalities and most of the injuries occurred in a mobile home park in the town of 12,000.

In Kansas, a suspected EF-3 tornado that ripped through parts of Wichita late Apr. 14 resulted in initial damage estimates of $283 million. Property damage was reported at McConnell Air Force Base, Boeing plants and Spirit Aerosystems.

No other damage estimates were available at press time. The Storm Prediction Centre was verifying the number of tornado reports it received over the weekend.