(Picture sent from a KTTS listener, storm damage from May 10th tornado)
Tornadoes tore through the Ozarks Saturday evening, killing 16 people. The latest victim is a Newton County fire fighter, Tyler Casey, who had been in the area near Racine on Saturday. Authorities say Highway 60 was closed due to debris over the road. They say structural damage has been done to buildings just north of Neosho. Four trailer homes, a church, houses and several outbuildings have been destroyed near Purdy and one person has been reported dead just north of the town. The National Weather Service says one other person has been found dead in Jasper County near Carthage when a tree was knocked over from straight line winds and fell on a trailer home, and 13 dead north of Racine in Newton County. Authorities say the tornadoes also caused significant damage in Newtonia after a damage path three quarters of a mile wide along the Kansas and Oklahoma state line. The National Weather Service says an EF-4 tornado about a mile wide, with wind speeds of 170 miles an hour, had the strength to throw cars one-quarter to one-half mile away. The twister that hit the Carthage area was an EF-1 tornado, with winds up to 105 miles an hour, a quarter mile wide and up to 3.25 miles long.
The Red Cross has closed the shelter at the Calvary Baptist Church in Neosho, but plans to open a relief and resource center at the church Tuesday morning. Service centers will be open Monday afternoon at the First Baptist Church in Newtonia and the intersection of 43 and Iris Road in Newton County. A shelter will also be open at the First Baptist Church in Seneca.
Updated 6am 5/13/08