OTTAWA, Ill. — When you look around Ottawa, it’s almost like it didn’t happen — almost. But upon closer inspection, there are tell tale signs that an EF-3 tornado, packing winds up to 165 miles per hour and baseball-sized hail, passed through the area just a year ago. That night, with the electricity cut off,…
Victims remembered on 10th anniversary of ‘Super Tuesday’ tornadoes
MACON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – It was an emotional day in Macon, Sumner and Trousdale counties as survivors marked 10 years since the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak. An EF-3 killed 23 people that day – 13 in Macon County, eight in Sumner County and two in Sumner County. “It was like a war zone,” Macon…
Tornado roared through Wheatland 10 years ago
Rare storm happened on unseasonably warm day. While residents braved blustery subzero temperatures entering 2018, Western Kenosha County experienced an entirely different scenario 10 years ago, when an EF-3 tornado ripped through the Town of Wheatland and surrounding areas. The tornado, which marks its 10th anniversary on Sunday, happened during an unseasonably warm day of…
Six years later: Remembering the Glade Spring tornado
GLADE SPRING — When a tornado tore through the Glade Spring Church of God in 2011, its pastor, James Walls, didn’t miss a beat. The tornado touched down in the early hours of Thursday, April 28, 2011. Just three days later, Walls led its Sunday service in the basement of a nearby church, a service…
Perryville tornado lasted more than an hour
The historical comparisons are evident. The National Weather Service’s Paducah office – which assessed the damage from the Perryville tornado – released its final storm report on Saturday. According to the NWS, the twister is not only the longest-track tornado in this region since 1981 – spending an incredible one hour and 2 minutes on…
Fat Tuesday tornado upgraded to EF-4
The Fat Tuesday tornado that hit Jackson and Franklin counties has been upgraded to an EF-4, the National Weather service has reported. That tornado started near Perryville, Missouri, where it did significant damage and killed one person, and then traveled more than 50 miles east where it finally dissolved just southeast of Christopher. It was…
Perryville tornado had winds up to 165 mph, meteorologists say
PERRYVILLE, Mo. • The tornado that killed one motorist and destroyed homes in Perryville on Tuesday night packed winds of up to 165 mph and covered nearly 50 miles, weather officials said Thursday. The National Weather Service has preliminarily labeled the tornado an EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. A final report is expected by…
Tuesday Tornadoes Claim Third Life in Illinois
A northern Illinois man has died after being struck by a tree during a powerful Midwestern storm, raising the death toll for the regional storms to four. Peoria County’s coroner says 31-year-old David A. Johnson of Ottawa died Wednesday of severe head trauma at a Peoria hospital. Harwood says Johnson was working in a backyard…
2017 off to a devastating start for tornadoes across U.S.
After several sleepy years for tornadoes, 2017 is showing signs that it could be different. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center has logged preliminary reports of 138 tornadoes around the U.S. in January. That’s more than 100 above the national average for January. More significantly, three tornadoes last month killed 20 people…
Tornado batters Ocoee community in Polk County
OCOEE, Tenn. — Families, volunteers and emergency responders continue to pick up the pieces in the wake of a storm that left two dead in the Ocoee community in Polk County early Wednesday morning. The National Weather Service confirmed a category EF-3 tornado, characterized by wind speeds of between 136 and 165 mph, struck the…