Tornadoes spin death, damage in the US

CHICAGO - Violent storms that spawned a record number of tornadoes killed at least eight people across the Midwest, many dying in Missouri where twisters wrecked mobile homes, authorities said today.

There were at least seven deaths in Missouri, with the other fatality a drowning victim in Indiana, emergency management officials said.

The preliminary estimate of 110 tornadoes that touched down yesterday broke a 16-year-old record for any day in March, the National Storm Prediction Centre said.

Damage and power outages from the weekend storms and twisters extended across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

"Missouri got banged this weekend," said Joe Schaefer of the Storm Prediction Centre in Norman, Oklahoma.

Four people who lived in mobile homes died in and around Moberly, Missouri, which was struck by a powerful twister on Sunday, Schaefer said. Other victims were reported in Sedalia and Marionville.

Missouri's emergency management agency said 29 counties sustained storm damage.

The unsettled weather across the United States included a freak snowfall in normally balmy sections of California and relief from the record 143-day drought gripping Phoenix.

Wind, hail, lightning and downpours paraded across the Midwest. The mayor of Springfield, Illinois, compared the damage from Sunday's large tornado to what he had seen from Hurricane Katrina.

Officials at the University of Kansas said the main campus in Lawrence suffered about US$6 million damage on Sunday, but there were no injuries. Classes for the 26,000 students were cancelled on Monday, spokesman Todd Cohen said.

More than half the buildings on the campus suffered some sort of damage, ranging from blown-in doors to ripped-off roofs. The soccer stands were left in twisted wreckage, he said.

On Saturday, another 17 tornadoes were reported across the region, contributing two fatalities to the weekend death toll.

- REUTERS