Toronto: A succession of severe storms has battered a vast area of the United States and Canada, causing flash floods and necessitating water rescues in the Ozark Mountains on Wednesday, unleashing a tornado that devastated a community in upstate New York, and leaving drivers stranded in high waters around Toronto.
This relentless storm activity has resulted in fatalities and destruction from the Plains to New England over the week. The storms have left hundreds of thousands without power and air conditioning amid scorching temperatures.
The National Weather Service reported that up to 11 inches (approximately 28 centimetres) of rain poured down overnight into Wednesday across regions of the Ozarks in Arkansas and Missouri.
In Yellville, Arkansas, buses and ambulances transported 86 individuals from a nursing home where waters rose to around 4 feet (1.2 meters) during the flash floods, according to Marion County Sheriff Gregg Alexander. A bridge section collapsed, and a historic courthouse was inundated.
Upstate New York cities are in recovery mode after a storm passed through on Tuesday, bringing high winds, intense lightning, and airborne debris that resulted in one fatality.
A tornado tore through the small city of Rome, New York, stripping roofs from buildings, overturning vehicles, and reducing several structures to rubble.
Historic churches, including the First Presbyterian Church and St. Mary’s Church, both dating back to the 1800s, saw their steeples fall and roofs ripped apart. Copper roofing from First Presbyterian was discovered entangled around utility poles a quarter-mile distant.
The winds were powerful enough to displace a heavy B-52 bomber on display at Griffiss Business and Technology Park. A mural depicting a Revolutionary War figure on horseback, a notable Rome feature, was obliterated, leaving only a horse’s hoof image behind.
Governor Kathy Hochul, speaking at St. Mary’s, remarked on the “miraculous” absence of fatalities in the city of 31,000. She surveyed the downtown area on Wednesday, noting that 22 buildings had sustained damage or were destroyed.