US authorities yesterday rushed aid to southern states after powerful tornadoes cut a path of death and destruction, killing at least 45 and reducing entire towns to piles of rubble.
The tragedy began late on Thursday in Oklahoma, where a giant twister almost flattened the small town of Tushka — population 350 — tearing up most of its homes and businesses and killing two elderly residents.
The storm system strengthened and expanded on Friday, whipping up hundreds more tornadoes that barreled through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and North Carolina, before petering out in Virginia on Saturday night.
DEATH TOLL
“It’s the most significant damage by a tornado since the early 80s,” North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue told reporters in the capital, Raleigh.
Twenty-three people were killed in North Carolina.
Among seven people killed in Alabama were a mother and her two children sheltering inside their mobile home when it was thrown about 150m into the woods, landing on its roof.
Seven others died in Arkansas, five in Virginia and one in Mississippi.
An eight-year-old girl and a 47-year-old woman “were swept off a bridge by flood waters” while walking in the Virginia town of Waynesboro, said state emergency management department spokeswoman Laura Southard. A second child was pulled to safety.
Falling trees snapped power lines and came crashing down on cars and houses, killing occupants and causing widespread damage. Witnesses described hailstones the size of grapefruit.
“This is the worst storm, tornado-wise, since 1984,” Patty McQuillan, a spokeswoman from the US Federal Emergency Management Agency in Raleigh, told reporters.
The year 1984 saw the most destructive tornadoes in more than a century, with twisters sweeping through Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia, killing 57 people and injuring more than 1,000.
“I actually do remember the last one,” McQuillan said. “I believe that the destruction may even be greater this time than it was in 1984.”
More than 60 homes in North Carolina were destroyed and more than 400 others sustained heavy damage. Aerial footage showed a vast Lowe’s home improvement store obliterated with no roof and flattened walls.
STATE OF EMERGENCY
A state of emergency was declared in the region on Saturday to make available US federal funds for what promises to be a long and painful recovery.
The biggest toll in one area was 14 in North Carolina’s Bertie County, which has a population of less than 20,000, according to the last census figures.
“We’ve had hurricanes, we’ve had floods, but we’ve never seen the loss of life we’re seeing here,” county official Zee Lamb told CNN, describing the vast complex of tornadoes that tore through the area.
“It was estimated about a half-mile [0.8km] to three-quarters of a mile wide and it lasted for about six to eight, 10 miles through the county,” Lamb said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese