Cleanup begins after Midwest storms kill 6

Residents of the Midwest cleared away wreckage Saturday following a wave of powerful storms that splintered homes, knocked out power to thousands and killed six people.

Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed Friday in Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri, and 150,000 Missouri utility customers lost power. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency.

“My primary concern is the safety of Missourians and this executive order makes state agency resources available to help communities respond to the storms,” Nixon said.

In southern Illinois, more than 56,200 customers of the utility Ameren still had no electricity late Saturday, the company said. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Saturday declared three southern counties disaster areas.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear declared an emergency in central and southeastern sections of his state Saturday, and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin made the same declaration for six counties in that state.

Trees were down and windows were broken on the campus of Southern Illinois University’s Carbondale campus, but the school said weekend commencement ceremonies would go on as scheduled. Friday’s graduation ceremonies were canceled.

On Saturday, a line of thunderstorms stretched from Arkansas and northern Mississippi across Tennessee and Kentucky.

The weather service confirmed that at least two tornadoes touched down Friday morning in southwest Missouri’s Greene County. The county’s Office of Emergency Management counted three homes and one business destroyed with 298 homes, 29 businesses and 13 schools damaged.

In southern Illinois, the storm system peeled siding and roofs off homes and other buildings, blowing out car windows and tearing up trailer parks. Wind gusted to 100 mph in the Carbondale area and sustained wind was measured up to 90 mph.

Carbondale Township fire Capt. Mark Black said he wasn’t sure if a tornado touched down in his area but the “winds were just amazing. They were howling and the siding on the trailers was flying through the air and there was a pretty hard rain.”

In sparsely populated Dallas County, Mo., seven people were hurt as wind – possibly a tornado – destroyed 35 homes and damaged numerous others, state emergency management officials said.

Michael Bryant, assistant deputy emergency management director for Kentucky’s Madison County, said at least eight other people were injured by the tornado that killed two. About 150 homes are damaged and destroyed, he said.

“It sounded like an airplane taking off, but I knew it wasn’t,” said Richmond, Ky., resident Lonnie Hall, whose four-year-old home was toppled. “The wind start picking up, and I yelled to everyone, ‘Let’s go to the basement.’ In 10 or 15 seconds, it was over with.”