Several injured and damage caused by tornadoes in the USA
The still image from a video provided by television station WSYX shows the damage from a storm in Lakeview, Ohio. photo
© Uncredited/WSYX via AP/dpa
“It’s pure devastation,” is how one eyewitness describes it. Hurricanes have caused significant damage in the USA.
Violent hurricanes and tornadoes have occurred in the USA injured several people and caused considerable damage. The states of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky were particularly affected, as local media reported. According to ABC News, at least eight tornadoes were recorded within a few hours.
There were “many, many serious injuries” in the small town of Winchester, Indiana, a police spokesman said on Friday night. He couldn’t give exact numbers. There had previously been reports of at least three deaths. However, the spokesman could not confirm this. A more precise picture of the situation will only be possible once collapsed buildings have been examined.
In the Randolph district, where Winchester is also located, a supermarket and a fast food restaurant were also destroyed, local media reported. In the town of Selma, which has around 750 inhabitants and is around 25 kilometers to the west, the storm damaged around 50 percent of all buildings, the civil protection agency said. Fortunately, there were only a few slightly injured people there.
Power outages in many places
Damage was also reported in Lakeview, Ohio. “It’s pure devastation,” local Chamber of Commerce President Amber Fagan told ABC 6 News. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life. Our community building is destroyed, our laundromat is gone,” she added. Photos in local media showed covered houses and broken trees. There were also reports of at least 50 buildings damaged by storms in the town of Milton, Kentucky.
The reports continued that there was a power outage in many places due to damaged cables. According to the site Poweroutage.us, around 50,000 homes in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky were without electricity as of Friday morning. Many schools remain closed on Friday.
Experts attribute the increase in natural disasters in the USA – storms, floods and forest fires – to the consequences of climate change.