At Least 9 Dead, 30+ Injured As Tornadoes Roll Through Midwest- 2012- Photo Link

By Susan Duclos

Towns in Illinois, Kansas and Branson, Missouri were destroyed as tornadoes rolled through leaving dozens injured and nine dead as of the last reports.

Via CSMonitor:

A powerful storm system that produced multiple reports of tornadoes lashed the Midwest early Wednesday, roughing up the entertainment resort town of Branson and laying waste to small towns in Illinois and Kansas. At least nine people were killed.

An apparent twister rolled through Branson just before 1 a.m. and seemed to hopscotch up the city's main roadway, ripping roofs off hotels and damaging some of the city's famed music theaters dangerously close to the start of the heavy tourism season. At least 37 people were reported hurt, mostly with cuts and bruises.

"We were blessed with several things — the time of year and certainly the time of day, when people were not in their vehicles or outdoors," said Mayor Raeanne Presley, noting that during Branson's peak season, up to 60,000 visitors would have been in the city on any given day and staying in many of the hotels that were damaged.

CJOnline reports the death toll is at 10.

Gallery: Aerial photos of tornado damage in the Midwest

Track Map found HERE.

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Twister

All was calm reflection when I crossed the mighty Conneticut today at dawn.



However that was hardly the scene on Wednesday when a giant tornado crossed the river into Springfield, as seen in this dramatic video.



Springfield's South End really suffered a lot of damage, as captured in this S.P. Sullivan photo.



At least the damage was natural, rather than political. Nothing in nature ever devastated the South End like the idiotic decision to build the highway on the Springfield side of the river - where it wiped out a huge section of the neighborhood, destroyed the Barney Estate and isolated the city from the riverfront - instead of building it on the other side, where there was mostly just woods. But then the politicians and their friends would not have been able to make a lot of money on the dirty real estate deals surrounding the land takings for the road.

A lot of good videos have surfaced by people who were in the area hit by the tornado. I think this is the best one - dig that crashing tree!



I was in Amherst during the storm, where the sky got really dark and it poured rain like crazy, but we never saw the heavy winds up here like they did in the South Valley. In fact before the storm it was an unusually warm spring day, as evidenced by this thermometer on the Greenfield Savings Bank.



I was in Greenfield with my friend Damon who was doing his patriotic duty by paying his parking fine at the Franklin County Courthouse.



Only it turns out you don't pay parking fines at the courthouse, instead you have to go to City Hall. Inside is this wall painting of the pilgrims discovering Greenfield.



Meanwhile at Amherst College they were having a reunion, and it looks like the class of 1999 has been busy in the bedroom!



This week while riding down the woodland way into downtown Northampton I swerved to avoid what looked at first to be a large stone in the road!



Getting off my bike to check it out I went, "Whoa, that's no rock!"



Messages in the window of Broadside Books in downtown Northampton.



This guy must be a joy to know.



Don't forget, tornadoes are not the only ones to cause trouble.