Tornadoes

A slow-moving storm packing tornadoes and hail battered rural Oklahoma, tearing up trees and destroying three barns at a hog farm near Lacey in Kingfisher County, northwest of Oklahoma City. No injuries were reported at the farm. Most of its 3,900 pigs, housed in crates, were also unhurt.

On the limb of a barren tree in the tornado-devastated north Texas community of Rancho Brazos, an American flag flaps in the wind - placed there by a firefighter. "It's symbolic of, 'We're here, we're going to rebuild,'" said Sgt. Nathan Stringer, a Hood County sheriff's spokesman. The tornado has "broken homes, but it hasn't broken our will," he said. A fierce series of twisters tore through the northern part of the state Wednesday, killing six people, injuring 53, leaving scores of damaged and destroyed houses and many people homeless.

Severe weather moving through much of the nation produced tornadoes in the South that injured about 30 people. Parts of the Midwest experienced freezing rain, snow and flooding. A tornado damaged or destroyed about 200 homes and businesses in Prattville, outside Montgomery. Freezing rain and snow fell across southern Wisconsin, still weary from a snowstorm that snarled travel for days.

A fierce storm hugged the eastern portion of the nation in an icy, wet grip Thursday, spawning strong winds, tornadoes and the possibility of floods through the region where just days ago spring was beginning to bloom. At least one death related to tornado activity was reported in Mississippi, bringing the toll from this week's freakishly winter-like weather to two. Tornado watches remained in effect in Mississippi and next door in Alabama while Missouri had declared a state of emergency because of drenching rains.

Late spring was anything but mild in the southwestern plains as the area was pounded by tornadoes, thunderstorms, flooding and golf-ball-size hail. A tornado swept through a truck stop in Clinton, Ark., leveling the Country Kitchen restaurant. Six people were treated at a Clinton hospital. Twisters touched down near Pandora, Langtry and San Antonio, Tex., damaging several buildings and a mobile home. Winds threw a storage shed 100 yards, while a tree snapped in San Antonio and fell on a home.

Smoke rose from burning heaps of wreckage Saturday as residents of rural Arkansas cleaned up what was left of their homes after deadly tornadoes scoured a state that has been plagued by severe weather this year. All that remained of Shelia Massey's home were a chimney, a bathroom wall and a bathtub that was her storm shelter. "God's hand came down and held us there while the rest of the house just blew away," said Massey, 54. "That's all there was to it. The Lord held us there." The storms killed seven people in Arkansas, authorities said Saturday, revising a toll of eight reported the night before.

Wind-driven rain and more tornadoes lashed North Carolina on Saturday as stunned residents throughout the Southeast picked up the pieces from an earlier storm that left at least 21 people dead and hundreds homeless. One child was seriously injured when a tornado touched down in Rockingham County, N.C., but for the most part the latest storms did not measure up to the intensity of those the day before. Seventy-five thousand customers of Duke Power Co. remained without power, and company officials said it might be Monday before service was restored.

A tornado plowed through two suburban areas of Philadelphia, killing three people and injuring more than 30 others, authorities said. At least 15 homes were destroyed and 15 heavily damaged when the storm struck a housing development in Limerick Township, about 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia, just before midnight Wednesday, officials said. Seven other homes were severely damaged in neighboring Chester County, where the storm hit first.

Multiple tornadoes ripped through the Dallas-Fort Worth area Tuesday, with two major twisters damaging hundreds of homes and causing numerous injuries, some critical. The mayor of Lancaster, Texas, a suburb about 15 miles south of Dallas,  saw one of the twisters approach. “I was leaving a meeting here in town and heard the tornado sirens go off,” said Mayor Marcus Knight at a news conference, adding that he watched the tornado bear down on the area before arriving at City Hall.

As clean-up from deadly tornadoes in the Midwest and South continued Thursday, a second storm system that could generate more twisters in the same hard-hit areas is predicted to hit overnight.  According to the latest projections by the National Weather Service, more storms are expected to move into the region, including southern Illinois, beginning after midnight Thursday and continuing through Friday. The severe storms will bring rain and hail and the weather service warned of chances of more tornadoes.

A spring storm that hit Colorado on Tuesday was not as strong as predicted but still powerful enough to bring highway-clogging snowfall to the Denver area, cause the cancellation of hundreds of flights and deliver blizzard conditions in some regions. Wyoming took the brunt of the snowstorm as the cold front dawdled over that state rather than barrel through Colorado. More than a foot of snow fell in from Laramie to Lander, more than expected. Originally, the National Weather Service was predicting a sizable snow accumulation in Denver, but predictions were revised downward in the area from more than 12 inches to about half that.

Residents of a Riverside County mobile home park said a mini-tornado tore through their neighborhood Tuesday, flinging large metal awnings through the air, which then fell to the ground. In interviews with the Riverside Press Enterprise , residents said powerful winds hit the Old Plantation Mobile Home Community in Jurupa Valley about 3:30 p.m. No injuries were reported. “My maintenance guy says [one awning] was 100 feet in the air. And I would bet it weighs over 500 pounds,” Stewart Bauders, manager of the park, told the news organization.

Barely a mile from where James Franco, the wizard in Disney's new "Oz: The Great and Powerful," was recently giving interviews sat a billboard touting a middle-school stage production. " 'The Wizard of Oz' is coming!" it proclaimed, an endearing promotion that the master shyster himself might appreciate. Down the street, some of Hollywood's top actors were talking up their $200 million plus production of "Oz," but inside these halls pre-adolescent cowardly lions and scarecrows were dutifully rehearsing their numbers.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Daylight Monday revealed damage done by a tornado that ripped through this southern Mississippi city the day before, sparing residents from major injury but destroying some homes and damaging scores more. At least 63 people were treated for storm-related injuries, and more than 200 structures were damaged by the storm, according to Kyle Hopkins, emergency operations manager of surrounding Forrest County. He told The Los Angeles Times that emergency managers were still tallying how many structures were destroyed.

A long line of storms stretching from the deep South to upstate New York continued to roll across the nation on Wednesday, with reports of two fatalities in separate tornadoes. It's the traditional dead season for tornadoes, but northern Georgia was raked by at least one, knocking down trees, damaging homes and leaving cars upturned in a McDonald's parking lot in Adairsville, according to the National Weather Service. AccuWeather, citing Bartow County Emergency Management officials, reported one killed in the Adairsville tornado; that death could not immediately be confirmed.

A massive storm system upended post-Christmas travel plans Wednesday as it marched toward the Northeast after dumping snow and sleet on the middle of the country and producing tornadoes through the South on Christmas Day. The storm stretched from Michigan to Florida and had been blamed for seven deaths so far. The nation's airlines had canceled more than 1,800 flights and delayed more than 9,000 by at least 15 minutes, mostly into and out...

Tornadoes tore through the Dallas-Fort Worth area known as the Metroplex on Tuesday, and although no serious injuries had been reported by mid-afternoon, officials are seeing major damage in their wake.  Lt. Darrel Whitfield of the Arlington Fire Department told The Times that a tornado struck at about 1:15 p.m. in Fort Worth and headed 15 miles east into neighboring Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers baseball team. "We have heavy damage in south Arlington, no reports of injuries, several fires, lightning strikes," Whitfield said.

Parts of Wyoming and Colorado were working Friday to recover from the week's harsh weather, including tornadoes that caused minor injuries. A rare tornado cut through open country in southeastern Wyoming on Thursday, injuring at least one person and causing some property damage in the Wheatland area. In Colorado, four tornadoes were reported in the Elbert County area, southeast of Denver. A minor injury was also reported there. The tornadoes were blamed on an unusually powerful storm system moving through the region packing heavy rains, strong winds and conditions that can spawn twisters.

A massive storm system was marching toward the Northeast on Wednesday, upending post-Christmas travel plans after dumping snow and sleet on the middle of the country on Christmas Day and producing tornadoes through the South. The storm, which stretches from Michigan to Florida, has been blamed for six deaths so far. As the storm moves from the Tennessee Valley to the Mid-Atlantic, heavy snowfall, tornadoes and significant icing are possible, the National Weather Service said.  PHOTOS: Northeast braces for winter storm The storm could dump as much as 18 inches of snow from western New York to central Maine.

A Christmas Day tornado touched down west of downtown Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday afternoon, knocking down trees and power lines and damaging property. No injuries were immediately reported. Amateur video of the twister showed a funnel churning through the city, occasionally illuminated by exploding electrical transformers. The Mobile Fire Department said it had received reports of downed limbs, power lines, gas leaks and damage at Murphy High School inside the city . The department tweeted that it had not been "overwhelmed" by calls.