Deadly tornadoes wreak havoc on central US

A series of devastating tornadoes are sweeping through several states in central US, days after dozens of people were killed in a massive twister in the state of Oklahoma.

Multiple tornadoes battered the Oklahoma City metropolitan area and killed a mother and a child there before moving over Missouri late Friday.

The National Weather Service warned that a “confirmed and extremely dangerous tornado” was near the city of Harvester, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of St. Louis.

The weather service also issued a tornado emergency for Oklahoma City and its suburbs of Moore, Yukon and Bethany.

The Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. said over 50,000 people were without power by early Friday evening in the Oklahoma City area because of bad weather.

Tornado warnings were posted for remote areas of far southeastern Kansas and in Missouri people were urged to take shelters.

Flash flooding and twisters left three people dead in the state of Arkansas late Thursday and Friday while three others were reported missing in the floods that came after 6 inches of rain.

“The water just comes off that hill like someone is pouring a bucket in there,” said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Highway and Transportation.

On May 20, a killer tornado struck the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, flattening homes, two schools and a hospital.

The storm has been described by the National Weather Service as the deadliest US tornado since the one that killed 161 people in Joplin, Missouri, just two years ago.

Also on May 15, an EF-4 tornado struck the US state of Texas, killing several people and injuring more than 100 residents.