Tornadoes kill at least 17 in Arkansas, Oklahoma

[Speedy]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/2...8320140428

Tornadoes ripped through the south-central United States on Sunday, killing at least 17 people in Arkansas and Oklahoma and wiping out entire neighborhoods, authorities said as rescue workers searched in darkness for survivors.

Winds ripped houses off their foundations and flipped cars on top of the rubble in the small town of Vilonia in central Arkansas' Faulkner county, one of the worst-hit communities, television pictures showed.

Arkansas authorities said at least 10 people had died in Faulkner and six more across the state - the first reported fatalities of this year's tornado season. Another person was killed in neighboring Oklahoma, said the sheriff's department.

Searchers were continuing to dig through rubble in Vilonia and a spokesman for the County Sheriff's office said there was a "mass casualty situation".

"An entire neighborhood of 50 or so homes has been destroyed. Many homes are completely gone except the foundation ... There is more devastation like this in other parts of Arkansas," state congressman Tim Griffin told Reuters.

[Grateful11]

Was watching TWC late last night and knew it was going to be bad.

[DP]

The Central US in the Spring... And it's not over yet. Here in SE lower MI we'll get the good part of the storm-needed rain, but nothing worse.

[Carnos Jax]

The tornado in Arkansas initially formed/touched down 2-4 miles west/northwest of my house, from where it headed northeast and shortly crossed the Arkansas River, bringing its first batch of destruction to Mayflower. From my understanding of where other Arkansas MRFers are, no one was in the path of the tornado.

[Zoidberg]

Checking in; Zoidberg & Family are okay. We're about, I guess, 30+ miles from initial touchdown point.

[Speedy]

Glad you are safe! Stay that way.

[Dennis S]

It didn't bother us in SW Arkansas. Central Arkansas around Little Rock, where it hit, gets it almost every time.