Midwest twisters kill at least 10

The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Ill. -- Twisters roared through the heartland in the early morning darkness yesterday, flattening entire blocks of homes in small-town Illinois and Kansas and killing at least 12 people.

Winds ripped through the country music mecca of Branson, Mo., damaging some of the city's famous theaters just days before the start of the busy tourist season.

The tornado that blasted Harrisburg in southern Illinois, killing six, was an EF4, the second-highest rating given to twisters based on damage. It was 200 yards wide with winds up to 170 mph, scientists said.

By midday, townspeople in the community of 9,000 were sorting through piles of debris and remembering their dead while the winds still howled around them.

Not long after the storm, Darrell Osman raced to his mother's home, arriving just in time to speak to her before she was taken to a hospital with a head injury, a severe cut to her neck and a broken arm and leg.

"She was conscious. I wouldn't say she was coherent. There were more mumbles than anything," he said. "She knew we were there." Mary Osman died a short time later.

The twister that raked Branson seemed to hopscotch up the main roadway, moving side to side. At least 37 people were reported hurt, most with only cuts and bruises. When Branson's peak season begins in March, up to 60,000 visitors would have been in hotels.

Just six guests were staying at J.R.'s Motor Inn, and all escaped injury by taking refuge in bathtubs. The second floor, the roof and all windows were destroyed, and the building was deemed a total loss.

Manager Lori McGauley choked back tears. "We had 25 people booked for next week," she said. "If this happened a week later, we would have lost some people."

The Legends Theater, the Andy Williams Moon River Theater and the Branson Variety Theater all sustained significant damage, but some of the most popular theaters were barely damaged.

In Missouri, one person was killed in a trailer park in the town of Buffalo, about 35 miles north of Springfield. Two more fatalities were reported in the Cassville and Puxico areas. Three people were reported killed in eastern Tennessee as storms collapsed homes.

The twisters were spawned by a powerful storm system that blew down from the Rockies on Tuesday and was headed toward the East Coast.