NYC faces severe weather threat from storm that slammed Midwest
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The aftermath of a tornado in Sullivan, Indiana, on April 1, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK – A powerful spring storm system that whipped up deadly tornadoes over the southern and Midwestern United States
The storm was moving east after unleashing hail, heavy wind and tornadoes from Mississippi to Wisconsin, leaving at least 18 people dead, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
It could bring “an isolated brief tornado”, likely to west of New York City and the Hudson River, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
“(The) greatest uncertainty remains with the eastward extent of the threat of severe storms,” said the NWS, adding that wind gusts could reach 93kmh along the mid-Atlantic region.
Drenching rains were forecast for the New York City region late on Saturday into Sunday, although city officials said flooding was not expected.
“This is not an April Fool’s joke!” New York City Emergency Management said on its Notify NYC website.
About 700 flights into and around the US were cancelled on Saturday morning and some 4,800 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware. Many of the scrubbed flights involved Chicago and Atlanta, two travel hubs.
Southern Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina might also be in line for severe weather, the NWS said. These powerful thunderstorms could bring tornadoes, hail and straight-line winds, a destructive wind that is sometimes mistaken for a tornado.
The storm knocked out power to nearly 600,000 people across 11 states late on Friday, according to Poweroutage.us, including some 237,000 in Ohio who were still waiting to be reconnected on Saturday.
Reports of damage were extensive, with cars tossed off roads, homes ripped from foundations and buildings badly damaged across Tennessee, Arkansas and Indiana. In Illinois, a roof was ripped off Apollo Theatre in the city of Belvidere during a heavy metal concert. At least one person at the show was killed, Chicago’s ABC-7 reported.
Belvidere police chief Shane Woody described the scene as “chaos, absolute chaos”, AP reported.
The mayor of Little Rock said 2,100 homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado that tore through the Arkansas capital.
The storms struck just hours after President Joe Biden travelled to Rolling Fork, Mississippi, to meet residents affected by deadly tornadoes that killed more than two dozen people last week.
Mr Biden on Saturday spoke to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other local officials, a White House spokesman said. BLOOMBERG
