USA tornadoes in PICTURES: Roofs RIPPED from houses - path of destruction REVEALED
DEVASTATING tornadoes have ripped through Ohio, Indiana and other central states in the United States tearing communities apart - here are the latest pictures of the damage.
Ohio: Shocking aerial footage shows devastation from tornadoes
Residents across US states including Ohio and Indiana are coming to terms with devastating scenes left by a succession of powerful tornadoes. Twisters have demolished houses and cut through the hearts of communities and cities across central USA over the last 13 days. The latest wave of tornadoes late on Tuesday totalled 20 in number, including a rain-wrapped twister near Kansas City.
Brian Perry told local broadcasters: “It was pretty wild, never been through anything like it in my life.”
There were no immediate reports of deaths or casualties.
But tornadoes that pulverised buildings in western Ohio on Monday did prove deadly.
An elderly man was killed after a car was thrown into his home in the city of Celina by a tornado, while scores of others were injured.
Two tornadoes that hit Dayton in Ohio were classed as EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
According to Patrick Marsh, a meteorologist at the federal Storm Prediction Center, the terrifying twisters were packing wind speeds of 136mph to 165mph.
An estimated 60,000 homes and businesses were left without power across Ohio.
Emergency shelters were set up as rescuers carried out house-to-house checks to locate injured survivors.
How many tornadoes have there been?
More than 300 tornadoes have hit the Midwest over the last two weeks during a deadly band of extreme weather.
News broadcasters showed shocking aerial footage revealing the paths taken by individual tornados as they carved through whole neighbourhoods.
Shocking images show roofs ripped off homes and gardens turned into rubbish tips as debris lies strewn everywhere.
Others showed devastated families crying.
The power of the ferocious winds saw trunks uprooted, with some flattening cars as they fell to the ground.
Tornado survivor Blake Gifford, who sheltered in Dayton’s New Life Worship Center bathroom as the winds tore its steeple off, described the tornado’s force akin to that of a “jet engine”.
He told WKEF-TV: “It was the scariest 15 seconds of my life.”
In addition to tornadoes, record-breaking floods have turned highways into lakes in the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Thousands of people are braced for flooding of “historic magnitude”, state governor Asa Hutchinson said.
At least six people are known to have died in the flooding and storms in Oklahoma, according to the state’s Department of Health.
Further extreme weather is expected over the coming days.