News Service from House Harris

US: Tornado devastates small Arkansas town, killing three

MENA, Arkansas, April 10 AP - Authorities in Arkansas have begun a house-to-house search for possible victims of tornado that struck a "direct hit" on the mountain community of Mena, killing at least three people, injuring at least 30 others and flattening homes and businesses.

The twister sliced through the Ouachita Mountains community on Thursday night. The county sheriff described the sky turning green, while the airport manager said darkness fell quickly as the twister crossed the Oklahoma border 16 km away.

"Me and the dog ran to the bathroom when we saw it on the TV," said Rick Lanman, the manager of the Mena Airport. "It was here in less than a minute."

Sirens warned the community for earlier storms north and south of town. When they sounded a fourth time, "experience was telling me that we were in trouble", said Lanman, who said he been through tornadoes before in Oklahoma and Illinois.

Before first light on Friday, a convoy of trucks from electric utilities streamed into Mena. Their flashing yellow lights illuminated downed trees and buildings whose roofs and sides had been ripped away. Blue lights from police cruisers lit up debris downtown.

"It just looks like a war zone," Mayor George McKee said.

Prosecutor Tim Williamson said the storm uprooted 100-year-old trees and damaged Civil War-era homes that had been restored. He said the town once looked "pastoral" but added: "It's not anymore."

Emergency workers began going door-to-door at first light on Friday morning. Authorities said they wanted to check on residents as a precaution, although they had no specific reports of people missing. They said they would likely need help getting around fallen trees.

The twister tore the roof off a local community college building and destroyed two businesses at the city's industrial park, Williamson said.

The violent weather was part of a system that caused damage throughout the American South and parts of the Midwest.

The National Weather Service said a woman was injured at Shreveport, Louisiana, when a tree fell onto her car during a tornado. Twisters also damaged homes east of Vinita and near Muse in Oklahoma and at Crossett in far southern Arkansas, near the Louisiana line.

As the storms moved east, hail and high winds were reported in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Power was out in many parts of the region.

Authorities have not released the identities of a man and two women killed in Mena. One victim was found in a collapsed house, one in a Masonic lodge, and another in her front yard, Reeves said.

The sheriff said deputies reached five children who were in a house that was "basically turned upside down". They were taken to a hospital.

In Texas, wildfires killed at least two people.

Family members said a former TV reporter, Matt Quinn, and his wife Cathy were killed on Thursday when fire overtook their home in northern Texas. The couple's son was treated for burns at a hospital in Dallas and was in a fair condition.