US - Baseball-sized hail smashes Oklahoma

[Guest guest]

Baseball-sized hail

smashes Oklahoma

Thursday,

March 9, 2006; Posted: 3:36 p.m. EST (20:36 GMT)

 

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- Storms moving across the southern Plains

on Thursday brought winds strong enough

to rip off roofs and blow apart barns. Thousands of people lost power in Arkansas, and a lightning-sparked fire killed a man.

Southern Oklahoma had

baseball-sized hail and surrounding states saw heavy rain as the front moved

east across the Mississippi River. In Mississippi, winds reached 80 mph, and schoolchildren were sent home early in

case hurricane-weakened trees fell.

Around Little Rock, the high wind rolled over a mobile home and damaged about a

dozen other homes, and trees and power lines were down around the state. Road

signs were reported bent in Johnson County, in northwestern Arkansas.

About 7,600 homes and businesses lost electricity when power

lines went out after being hit by trees or other power lines, and the wind kept

workers from making immediate repairs.

" It's kind of like a yo-yo out there, " Entergy Arkansas spokesman James Thompson

said.

In the southwestern town of Ashdown, an 83-year-old city

councilman died after lightning struck his house and started a fire. His wife

was injured but survived.

A couple in the northeastern town of Tilton suffered cuts and

bruises after they left their mobile home and took shelter in their vehicle.

The storm blew out the vehicle's windows -- but the trailer was destroyed, said

Gerald Britton, a deputy emergency coordinator in Cross County.

Other homes in the county were also damaged, Britton said.

Lost shingles and downed fences in Lonoke County may have been caused by

a tornado, the weather service said. Another tornado may have touched down in Woodruff County, where trees and power

lines were down at Morton, the National Weather Service said.

The high winds in Mississippi took off roofs and otherwise damaged homes in Bolivar and Panola

counties, said Lea Stokes, spokeswoman for the state emergency agency.

Students in several counties were sent home.

" Some of the trees that made it through Katrina might

not make it through this, " said Ceroy Jefferson, assistant superintendent

for Jefferson Davis County Schools. " We just want children to be safe at

home. "

The rough weather was caused by a storm system moving from

the northwest ahead of a cold front. The main storm system was moving into the

rest of the South on Thursday afternoon, and other thunderstorms were possible

from another system expected to be centered in Missouri.

Storms were expected through Monday.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/03/09/storms.ap/index.html

Dasha: Ve/Sa/Su/Mo/Ra

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

satva

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jorge Angelino

 

 

Rua da Sociedade Filarmónica

Perpétua Azeitonense, 29

2925-598 Azeitão

Portugal

 

 

 

 

jorge.angelino

 

 

 

 

 

 

tel:

mobile:

 

 

210813674

963916784

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add me to your address book...

 

 

Want a signature like

this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--

 

 

Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.2.1/277 - Release 08.03.2006