Tornadoes blew cars off a highway and flattened homes in Texas, raising the death toll to 25 in a string of powerful storms that wreaked havoc across much of the southern US.
At least eight people were killed as tornadoes struck parts of the densely populated Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, leaving much of the region in darkness, local officials and media reported.
The Texas fatalities came after 17 people were killed in storm-related incidents since Thursday in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.
A tornado touched down at about 6:45pm on Saturday in Garland, Texas, city officials said in a statement.
“Five deaths have been confirmed,” the statement said. “Extensive damage has been reported to vehicles, homes, and apartments in the same area.”
The deaths are “believed to be related to vehicles struck by the tornado,” it said, adding that there was also an unconfirmed number of injuries.
The tornadoes — residents say at least four of them — snapped power cables and knocked over pylons, leaving about 50,000 people in the dark, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The Garland fatalities were apparently “blown off the highway by high winds,” Garland Police Department spokesman Mike Hatfield told the newspaper.
“We’re dealing with darkness out here,” Hatfield said. “All of the street lights and highway lights are out.”
Three other people were killed in weather-related incidents in Collin County, just north of the metroplex, the newspaper said, citing local police.
The tragedy came as millions of residents in the southern US struggle to recover from fierce storms and heavy flooding.
Feeding on unseasonably warm air, the storms and tornadoes have left a trail of destruction in rural communities from Alabama to Illinois.
In Alabama, where Governor Robert Bentley has declared a state of emergency to deal with the heavy flooding, tornadoes on Friday uprooted trees and tore off rooftops, with one touching down in Birmingham, the state’s most populous city.
“The damage was ... confined to approximately 1 square mile [2.59km2],” Birmingham Fire Department Chief Charles Gordon told CNN. “We have three houses that collapsed.”
No one died, but people were rescued from the debris, Gordon said.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and Georgia Governor Nathan Deal also declared states of emergency in their counties.
In Mississippi, 10 people were confirmed dead and about 60 others were injured on Saturday, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said on Twitter.
Among the dead was a seven-year-old boy killed when a storm picked up and tossed the car he was traveling in, fire chief Kenny Holbrook told reporters in the town of Holly Springs.
Six fatalities were confirmed in Tennessee, including three people found dead on Thursday in a car submerged in a creek, according to the fire department in Columbia, Tennessee.
Another person was killed in Arkansas.
Flood warnings and advisories also remain in effect in parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and other areas in the southeastern US.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft