On Saturday, April 29th, dozens of small towns in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Eastern Texas were destroyed by multiple tornadoes or severe storms rolling through the area. Dozens of people were hospitalized and at least eleven people had died- including the death of a two-year-old girl who was crushed when harsh winds pushed a soccer goal onto her. Devastation rained onto the communities and families involved; houses were demolished, power was lost, and floods from the storms still linger.  

     In Canton Texas, there was said to be at least four tornadoes that touched down. One of the tornadoes was ginormous, approximately half a mile wide! A storm chaser caught the massive wedge tornado on video. The damage caused by these storms were extensive- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, “You saw homes and other buildings that were incompletely flattened, as well as others that were nothing more than rubble.” Citizens were heartbroken. While some families were lucky enough to be safe, there were others who had family members die or injured, 52 people in Eastern Texas alone were hospitalized. The families who were lucky, however; everything they owned could have been lost or demolished. Desirea Rasmussen and her family happen to be one of these families; they made it out safely but their home was hardly recognizable, “We had a three-level house, and we’re down to the last level, and half of that roof is gone.” Many more families shared their fate in this natural disaster, it will take time to recover from these events but hopefully with the help of others- this process will go faster and be able to help as many people as quickly as they can.

     In Midwestern states, damage by severe storms and floods also caused havoc and destruction. Flood waters swept through Missouri, taking with it dozens of people. There were nearly three dozen rescues along with one hundred evacuations, but sadly lives were also lost in this storm as well. Madelaine Krueger, 72, was drowned in her car after it was pulled away into the waters- her husband tried to rescue her but couldn’t reach her in time. In Arkansas, a woman was killed when storms caused a tree to fall on her mobile home and a ten-year-old girl was swept into the flood waters and drowned. While in Oklahoma, the governor declared a state of emergency after thunderstorms with baseball sized hail had damaged their power lines- thankfully, no deaths were reported in Oklahoma as of Sunday.  

    Rescue workers are continuing to search for those who are still missing and they have made efforts to help these communities heal from the damage caused.

Sources:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/30/526246608/dozens-hospitalized-several-killed-as-tornadoes-hit-east-texas

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/over-50-hurt-after-tornadoes-hit-east-texas-n752926