Nasty and deadly tornado in St. Louis. (includes 1.3 min video)
A storm that produced a devastating tornado in the St. Louis, Missouri, area Friday afternoon has left at least five people dead and at least 10 injured, according to local authorities.
The deaths come after a string of tornadoes and severe storms damaged homes and downed power lines across the Midwest and Great Lakes Friday, brought by the same system that produced destructive storms and tornadoes Thursday.
Ten patients are being treated at St. Louis’ Children’s Hospital, with one in “critical condition,” hospital spokesperson Laura High told CNN.
“This is truly a lot of damage,” St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer said. Several buildings have collapsed and “a lot of roofs are missing,” as a result of the storm.
(So much for the common belief that tornadoes don’t hit cities.)
Police said the Cuauhtémoc’s mast height was 48.2m (158ft). The New York transport department’s website says the bridge has a 135ft clearance at its centre.
There is no explanation why the ship was heading towards the bridge in the first place.
It looks like it was caught in the tide and pulled stern-first into the bridge. Just a guess.
The Atlantic has long been good at finding things to worry about (I don’t know why it’s reprinted at Yahho News).
After this latest news broke, I spoke with Wayne Cockrell, a Texas rancher who fears the screwworm’s return to Texas is now a matter of when, not if. The anti-screwworm program cannot produce enough sterile flies to stop the parasite’s advance, much less beat it back down to Panama, Cockrell explained. He has followed the outbreak closely as the chair of the cattle-health committee for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, even visiting the sterile-fly factory recently. “There’s a sense of dread on my part now,” he told me.
Time to brush-up on possible parasites.