- (CNN) -- Forecasters are warning that conditions are
ripe for Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas to be hit by more tornadoes Thursday.
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- "If you're in that area, stay tuned," said
Jeff Evans, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction
Center.
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- Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas were heavily damaged earlier
this week in one of the most intense outbreaks of tornadoes in 53 years
of record-keeping.
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- Officials have recorded 135 tornadoes for the week since
Sunday. More than 40 people have been killed in the non-stop storms.
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- In Chattanooga, Tennessee, authorities there were battling
to keep the Tennessee River from rising any further. The river has already
reached its highest levels in 30 years, flooding a riverside park that
has been a hallmark of the city's renovations in recent years.
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- The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) estimated as much
as $7 million worth of damage so far in the area. Three-hundred structures,
including dozens of homes, have been affected, the TVA said.
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- The area received as much as 8 inches in less than a
day, swelling the creeks and tributaries that feed into the Tennessee river.
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- A hospital in the community of East Ridge, Tennessee,
near the Georgia border, was "surrounded 360 degrees by water,"
said Don Allen, the director of emergency services in Hamilton County.
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- Ambulances can no longer get to the hospital, and authorities
have routed any emergencies there to other medical facilities.
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- Severe thunderstorms rumbled across central Alabama and
northern Georgia on Wednesday night, uprooting trees, downing power lines
and swamping areas already deluged by three straight days of heavy rains.
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- In Alabama and Georgia late Wednesday, there were no
reports of major damage, but authorities warned residents to stay inside
and not drive down flooded roads.
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- "It's extremely dangerous," said Buzz Weiss,
a spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. He added there
was a "lot of widespread localized flooding" from the rains.
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- In Talladega County, in eastern Alabama, a tornado touched
down near the Talladega Superspeedway but did not hit the famed race track.
Sheriff Jerry Studdard said they had "some trees blown down"
and "a lot of power lines down," but the county escaped major
damage.
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- Missouri junior high collapses
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- A powerful storm hit the town of De Soto, Missouri, Tuesday
night, causing part of a junior high school to collapse, bringing down
trees and power lines and creating a flood of water down Main Street, officials
and residents said. (<http://www.cnn.com/2003/WEATHER/05/06/tornadoes/index.html>Full
story)
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- No injuries or deaths were reported after the storm,
and the town of 6,400 missed a second storm predicted to hit the area around
midnight. The town's residents have now experienced four twisters in the
past four years.
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- In Pierce City, Missouri, which has just over 1,300 residents,
96 houses were damaged by tornadoes Sunday night, Red Cross officials told
CNN. Authorities are concerned hard rain could do more property damage
and possible collapse already weakened structures.
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- Heavy rains and storms were not confined to the lower
Midwest and the Southeast, however. Flooding in Holly Township, Michigan,
about 50 miles northwest of Detroit, caused a 22-car freight train to derail,
and several railcars were on their sides, Michigan state police reported
Wednesday.
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- The CSX train was carrying auto parts and completed vehicles.
Some cars carrying propane stayed on the rails. The only environmental
cleanup involved diesel fuel. A conductor and an engineer were treated
for minor injuries.
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- http://www.cnn.com/2003/WEATHER/05/08/tornadoes/index.html
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