Deadly Tornadoes Attack U.S. Midwest

“Particularly dangerous situation” for parts of central US: NWS

Up to 80 powerful twisters [unconfirmed total] wreak havoc in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, causing deaths, injuries and destruction.

Sunday Storm Attacks

At least SIX people were killed and dozens more injured after 67 tornadoes [confirmed total] spawned by a massive weather system struck parts of 9 states, including Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. Some 442 events have so far been reported across NINE states after Sunday storm attacks, which flattened large section of the city of Washington, Ill.

UPDATES:

• Indiana – The city of Kokomo, Howard County, Greentown, and Russiaville have declared states of emergency after Nov. 17 storms swept through the state causing “significant damage.”
• “A confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” near Washington, Illinois, about 145 miles southwest of Chicago was reported to SPC, the National Weather Service said, adding that the twister was moving northeast at about 55 MPH.

“These storms will be moving very fast … They will be at your location and on to the next location in a matter of minutes. As a result, people cannot wait for visual confirmation of the threat.” —Russell Schneider, Storm Prediction Center.

The storm was moving east at dangerous speeds of up to 97 km/hr, reported the NWS’s Storm Prediction Center.

SPC Storm Reports [unfiltered] for 11-17-13 updated 11-18-13. Some 398 events  including 67 tornadoes [filtered totals] so far reported across NINE states—IL, IA, IN, KY, MI, MO, OH, TN, and WI—during Sunday storm attacks. The bulk of the tornadoes struck Illinois.

Entire neighborhood wiped out

Washington is reportedly the hardest hit area, with one resident saying his neighborhood was wiped out by tornadoes in a matter of seconds, said a report.

“I stepped outside and I heard it coming. My daughter was already in the basement, so I ran downstairs and grabbed her, crouched in the laundry room and all of a sudden I could see daylight up the stairway and my house was gone,” resident Michael Perdun told the Associated Press.

“The whole neighborhood’s gone, the wall of my fireplace is all that is left of my house.”

Probability (%) of Tornado in November (1980 – 1994). Source: NSSL

“Pandemonium. It looks like a war zone”

I saw a “car completely mangled, the houses gone… telephone wires [are] down everywhere, live wires are still down.” Karen Harris, a food truck operator in Washington, told the BBC she saw  “I’m pretty traumatized  from what I saw”

“I actually saw a vehicle in the middle of the road, their left signal light turned on, like they were getting ready to turn, all the windows were out of it, blood was in the back seat. Pandemonium. It looks like a war zone,” Ms Harris added.

“From the window I saw this huge tornado, tonnes of debris flying through the air,” said Laura Nightengale, a reporter with the Journal Star newspaper in Peoria, Illinois, witnessed the approach of a tornado from inside a house in the town.

“I took shelter in the basement. The area that was hit, it’s just absolutely devastated – entire blocks where homes stood this morning right now are just rubble.”

NWS: “particularly dangerous situation”

The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned of a “particularly dangerous situation” for parts of Midwest.

“Several rapidly moving, intense tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, large hail events and damaging winds are expected in these watch areas,” reported the service.

Dark Storm

The fast-moving storm system darkened downtown Chicago an hour or so after the tornadoes devastated large sections of Washington city, forcing officials to evacuate football fans from a local stadium as a fierce twister swept through the city suburbs.

Tornado Probabilities [Monthly]

Any Tornado	Signif. Tornado (F2-F5)	Violent Tornado (F4-F5)
Java animation	Java animation	Java animation
Monthly frames	Monthly frames	Monthly frames
January	January	January
February	February	February
March	March	March
April	April	April
May	May	May
June	June	June
July	July	July
August	August	August
September	September	September
October	October	October
November	November	November
December	December	Dece

The probability of having one or more days with a tornado within 25 miles of a point sometime during a month. The base data for all tornadoes are the reports from 1980-1994 and for significant and violent tornadoes are the reports from 1921-1995. The values are probabilities in percent. Source: Severe Thunderstorms Climatology

US Composite. (Source: SSEC/Wisc-Uni). Map enhanced by FIRE-EARTH Blog.

This post will be updated throughout the day as more information becomes available.

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