More than 70 tornadoes lash US, leaving thousands without power
Dozens of tornadoes struck the central US Friday, razing homes, knocking down power lines and injuring at least three people, authorities said, AFP reports.
More than 70 tornadoes were recorded across the country by the National Weather Service (NWS), most of them around Omaha, a transportation hub in Nebraska.
Images from storm chasers posted on social networks showed immense black twisters sweeping across the sky, turning over earth, dust and materials in their path.
In the Omaha suburb of Elkhorn, the storms razed numerous homes, blew off roofs and stripped trees of leaves.
"Emergency personnel continue to check damaged houses and assist any injured citizens," Omaha police posted on social media platform X.
Further south, near the Nebraska state capital of Lincoln, a tornado struck an industrial shed.
The 70 or so people inside when the roof collapsed were evacuated, but three suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Lancaster County authorities said at a news conference.
To the northeast of Lincoln, near Waverly, powerful storm winds toppled a train from its tracks, the officials said.
About 11,000 households were without power in Nebraska, according to tracking site Poweroutage.com.
The NWS, which issued numerous urgent tornado warnings in several central US states on Friday, warned that powerful storms would continue Saturday in the central plains, extending as far south as Texas.
Tornadoes, weather phenomena that are as impressive as they are difficult to predict, are relatively common in the US, especially in the central and southern parts of the country.
