Storms rip across Midwest and South; death toll at 12

HARRISBURG, Ill. - A predawn twister flattened entire blocks of homes in a small Illinois town Wednesday as violent storms ravaged the Midwest and South, killing at least 12 people in three states.

Winds also 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. Scientists said it was 200 yards wide with winds up to 170 m.p.h.

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.

The twister that raked Branson seemed to hopscotch up the city's main roadway, moving from side to side.

As sirens blared, Derrick Washington stepped out of his motel room just long enough to see a greenish-purple sky. Then he heard the twister roar.

"Every time the tornado hit a building, you could see it exploding," he said.

At least 37 people were reported hurt, but most suffered only cuts and bruises. After the start of Branson's peak season in mid-March, up to 60,000 visitors would have been in hotels on any given day.

Looking at the city's main strip, it was difficult to believe there weren't more serious injuries. A small mall was nearly destroyed. The Legends Theater, the Andy Williams Moon River Theater, and the Branson Variety Theater all sustained significant damage.

The Veterans Memorial Museum was in shambles, and a small military jet that sat in front of the museum was blown apart.

Back in Harrisburg, Nell Cox woke up during the tornado and glanced out her window with a flashlight to see her neighbor being blown out a window.

"She crawled back to the front of my house," Cox said. She ventured outside to grab the woman, brought her indoors, and called an ambulance.

In the shattered neighborhoods, debris was strewn everywhere - washing machines and dryers tossed in neighbors' yards, along with kitchen sinks and sticks of lumber with nails protruding. Chunks of pink insulation added color to the disarray.

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 - two in Cumberland County and another in DeKalb County as storms collapsed homes and downed power lines there.

The twisters were spawned by a powerful storm system that blew down from the Rockies on Tuesday and was headed toward the East Coast. Authorities were sending teams to investigate Thursday to determine whether tornadoes were involved in Tennessee.

Corey Mead, lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said a broad cold front was slamming into warm, humid air over much of the eastern half of the nation.

The violent weather also lashed parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky, where three buildings belonging to an Elizabethtown trucking company were heavily damaged.