NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY

MAY 2004

1st-8th...Two toddlers swept away in a stalled car were found dead Saturday,
bringing to five the number of people killed in North Texas floods during
weekend storms. Police said the toddlers were in their father's car, which was
swept away just after midnight Friday after it stalled on a bridge in
Corsicana. The children's father was trying to pull them from the vehicle when
it was carried away, police said. The body of a man whose vehicle was swept
against a guard rail by rising waters also was found Saturday. The vehicle's
passenger got out safely, police said. In Fort Worth, a woman and her 2
1/2-year-old son died Friday night after she tried to drive across a flooded
road, said fire department spokesman Lt. Kent Worley. The woman's 1
1/2-year-old son, who was presumed dead, had not been found by Saturday
afternoon. Worley said the woman apparently had stopped at the crossing but
decided to drive across after a van passed her and made it safely through
already deep water. Her car was swept down a drainage ditch that empties into a
creek, and was caught in trees about 75 to 100 yards downstream. Johnny
Campbell, 22, wrapped a tow chain around his waist and had three people hold it
as he waded through waist-deep water toward the car.

9th-15th...Slow-moving thunderstorms dumped rain on the southern Mississippi
River basin Wednesday, and snow fell in North Dakota. The cluster of
thunderstorms that hit Arkansas, Louisiana and western Mississippi dropped so
much rain in places that some roadways were flooded. Baton Rouge, La., had more
than 3 inches of rain by midday, and Alexandria, LA, had 3.63 inches.
Thunderstorms also developed in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Florida,
and from West Virginia through New York. The storms were not severe, but they
brought localized heavy rain showers and 30 mph wind gusts. The rest of the
East was mostly sunny and humid. Late-season snow fell in Bismarck, ND, and up
to 4 inches of snow fell
in the extreme north-central part of the state. The precipitation came from a
storm system that produced thunderstorms and rain in parts of Minnesota, Iowa
and Kansas.
A spring storm packing tornados, heavy snow and rain tore through eastern
Colorado and Kansas, damaging property and shutting down schools and roads.
National Weather Service meteorologists said the system spawned as many as a
dozen twisters as it moved east across the two states on Wednesday night.
Up to 14 inches of snow were reported in parts of Rocky Mountain National Park
in Colorado on Thursday. Jamestown, a mountain village about 20 miles south of
the park, reported 10 inches of snow. Many foothills towns received about 5
inches. Randy Robbins and his wife Linda were working on their new home near
Attica, KA, Wednesday night when they saw a tornado approaching. They took
refuge in the basement before the twister ripped off the roof and garage doors,
broke windows and destroyed animal pens and a storage shed. A truck in the
driveway was tossed about 50 feet. Two tornadoes touched down Wednesday night
in Cheyenne County, destroying a windmill and flattening trees near the Kansas
line. The storm brought heavy rain and hail up to an inch in diameter. Welcome
rain fell on drought-parched lawns and fields on the eastern edge of the
Colorado mountains. Rain ranged from half an inch at Fort Collins to 1.17
inches in the north Denver suburb of Northglenn by Thursday.
Neighborhoods disappeared underwater in Texas and high winds ripped off roofs
in Oklahoma in a day of storms that also saw North Dakotans breaking out their
snowmobiles for a mid-May romp. A 6-year-old boy was killed in Oklahoma on
Thursday after the car he was riding in skidded in the heavy rain. In
southeastern Texas, residents were plucked from treetops, homes and cars in
more than 20 rescues. At least 10 people were hospitalized, and as many as 200
homes were damaged. Half of Robertson County (about 400 square miles) was under
floodwater after 17 inches of rain fell in nine hours. Elizabeth Keyes, 26,
fled her trailer with her three young children once the water became knee-deep
in Hearne, one of the worst-hit towns.

16th-22nd...Heavy rain floated cars, lightning ignited homes, high wind tossed
a trailer and hail grew to an inch and more as a powerful storm system moved
from the Midwest to West Virginia early Friday. Flooding was blamed for at
least one traffic death in Ohio, and two people died when trees crashed onto
cars in Michigan. Wind gusts hit 95 mph at the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor, and 99 mph in Berrien County, MI, the National Weather Service and
police said. The storms, spawning numerous lightning strikes, left hundreds of
thousands without power. More than a dozen homes were damaged or destroyed in
West Virginia. Up to 3 inches of rain fell an hour while gusting wind snapped
trees and power lines; nearly 200,000 customers were without power. The two
people killed in southwest Michigan died in separate incidents, St. Joseph
County Emergency Services Coordinator Jim Barnes said. In the Detroit suburb of
Wayne, high wind blew a construction trailer about 40 feet, causing some
damage. No one was injured. One-inch hail fell near Milan, and there was an
unconfirmed report of a tornado in Chelsea. Rain was especially heavy in
Lorain, Medina and Summit counties, with up to 3 inches falling in three hours
early Friday. Ohio receive more rain in the late afternoon, along with damaging
winds of 60 to 65 mph, hail and lightning. In Wisconsin, a flood watch remained
in effect across central portions of the state. Six inches of water and mud
spilled off a farm field onto a highway in Salem, and the Kenosha County
Sheriff's Department had to tow a squad car out of Paddock Lake.

23rd-29th...Rain and thunderstorms were scattered Monday in much of the nation,
producing flash floods and wind gusts up to 60 mph in portions of the East.
Some areas of central New York sustained flooding and hail, with damaging wind
in Maine. Showers and thunderstorms also dotted the Ohio Valley and Tennessee
Valley regions. In the nation's midsection, low pressure brought heavy storms
to the Northern Plains. Hail up to 2 inches in diameter fell in the Dakotas,
with frequent lightning strikes, strong wind gusts and possible tornadoes in
the region.
A cold front stretched from western New York and cut across the Ohio Valley on
Wednesday triggering strong to severe thunderstorms over southern Indiana,
southern Illinois, southern Ohio, portions of West Virginia, and northern
Kentucky. The storm brought hail to the size of golf balls, wind gusts up to 70
mph. Further south, however, partly sunny skies with warm and humid conditions
prevailed. Mostly cloudy skies and scattered showers and thunderstorms were
seen in portions of Oklahoma, northern Arkansas and the southern half of
Missouri.
Powerful thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes and soaked the Midwest pushed
southward on Friday, leaving flooded roads and toppled trees in its wake.
Dozens of West Virginia schools canceled or delayed classes Friday, while some
residents had to be rescued by boat from flash floods that stranded them on
highways or in flooded homes. Tornadoes touched down Thursday in Indiana,
Kentucky and Missouri, damaging a handful of homes. There was no immediate word
of any injuries. In Indiana, the Blue River surged out of its banks near Salem,
lifting semi trailers from a parking lot and carrying them down river until
they crashed into a bridge. Thousands of homes lost power in Indiana and
Kentucky, and state and county workers spent the early morning Friday trying to
reopen routes made impassable by water and debris. An apparent tornado damaged
about 50 homes that were then struck by a flash flood near Martinsburg, IN,
about 25 miles northwest of Louisville, KY, said Ken Hollingsworth of the
Indiana Emergency Management Agency. In Kentucky, a tornado touched down in
Henry County on Thursday night as harsh winds and rain moved east through the
Louisville area, the National Weather Service reported. Henry County
Judge-Executive John Brent said a tornado hit Eminence, a town of about 2,300.
Television images showed broad stretches of destruction around Eminence, with
house parts scattered for miles across the rolling farmland. Several wooden
barns were flattened, and their wooden supports were stacked like children's
pickup sticks.
Tornado-laden storms continued battering the Midwest on Sunday, destroying
dozens of homes in this town and tearing the roof off an Indianapolis nursing
home. Several people were injured by the weekend's tornadoes, which killed an
elderly man in Marengo and three people in Missouri and ripped through parts of
Nebraska and Kansas. High wind was blamed for a fourth Missouri death and two
in Kansas. The storms destroyed at least 50 homes in Marengo, a town of 800
people about 35 miles northwest of Louisville, KY, said Indiana State Police
Sgt. Todd Ringle. The vast majority of the remaining homes and businesses were
damaged, he said. Patricia Parker found three mobile homes on top of each other
when she arrived home. She did not think the residents were home at the time.
The National Weather Service in Indianapolis said it saw evidence of a tornado
touchdown close to its office on the southwest side of the city. The worst of
the storm passed south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but rain delayed the
start of the Indianapolis 500 and forced a nearly two-hour interruption. A
tornado reported in Spencer, about 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis, sent
trees and power lines crashing as it sent about 30 people scrambling to find
cover in a gas station bathroom. On Saturday night, a tornado hit northwest
Missouri near the town of Weatherby, leveling a house and ripping a mobile home
from its base. In Kansas, high wind was blamed for two deaths in separate
accidents Saturday on Interstate 70 in northwest Kansas, including that of
state
Sen. Stan Clark, R-Oakley. Clark was killed when his car was rear-ended by a
tractor-trailer after the wind blew dust that cut visibility, the Kansas
Highway Patrol said. Severe weather also swept through Nebraska, including at
least two
tornadoes in the southern part of the state. Two people jogging in Omaha on
Saturday were seriously injured by a lightning strike, authorities said.
Tornadoes also were reported in Arkansas on Sunday, but there were no reports
of injuries or major damage.
A line of thunderstorms swept across Tennessee, ripping apart homes, destroying
a campground and causing widespread flooding. A 7-year-old girl was killed
early Monday when winds caused the collapse of a wall at her grandparents'
home. At least nine others died in a weekend of powerful storms that produced
heavy rain, high winds and some tornado activity along an arc from Louisiana to
New England. More thunderstorms moved across parts of the Great Lakes states.
The Tennessee storms late Sunday and early Monday dumped up to 2 inches of rain
in just over an hour and delivered high winds and hail the size of golf balls.
Nearly 100 homes and farm buildings were destroyed or damaged in Giles County
about 80 miles south of Nashville, including the home where 7-year-old Katie
Hardman was killed. A total of 22 people were injured in Hardin County, most at
a campground where wind knocked over trees, destroying some 25 camper trailers
and three campsites along the Tennessee River near Alabama and Mississippi.
Some of the trailers were blown into the river, said Trey Brannom of the
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. In West Virginia, storms dumped more
than 4 inches of rain in coalfields in the southern section of the state,
killing an elderly man who was
swept away by flooding and injuring his wife in Wyoming County. Gov. Bob Wise
declared a state of emergency in that county and two others Monday, after
declaring emergencies in seven other counties Friday. In Ohio, a man died early
Monday after being struck by lightning at a campground in Lebanon, northeast of
Cincinnati. Police said the man apparently was fishing at a private lake and
campground.