Twisters rage across U.S. South, killing mother and son By Reuters

By Brendan O’Brien and Dan Whitcomb

(Reuters) -The our bodies of a mom and her younger son have been recovered on Wednesday hours after a twister destroyed their house because it ripped by way of a rural city in northwest Louisiana – one in all a swarm of twisters unleashed in the course of the heavy winter storm system sweeping america.

First responders discovered the 8-year-old boy’s stays in a wooded space a few half mile (800 meters) away from his house in Keithville, Louisiana, a city of 300 folks, after the twister struck late on Tuesday evening, the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned in a written assertion.

His mom’s physique was found at about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, below particles one road away from the destroyed home, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned. An grownup male injured within the storm was transported to a neighborhood hospital, the place the extent of his accidents was unknown.

“I’m heartbroken to study of the mom and baby who have been killed in Southwest Caddo Parish as a consequence of one in all quite a few reported tornados,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards mentioned in a press release posted to Twitter. “My prayers exit to the household in addition to those that have been injured or misplaced their houses”

The twister was one in all 18 twisters reported in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in a single day on Tuesday into Wednesday that injured greater than two dozen folks and left houses in ruins.

In New Iberia, Louisiana, at the very least one individual was injured and a number of others have been pulled from particles after a twister touched down within the metropolis some 70 miles (113 km) southwest of Baton Rouge, police mentioned. A number of houses and a hospital have been broken, the New Iberia police confirmed on Fb (NASDAQ:).

Police warned residents to steer clear of the broken space as rescue efforts have been below method.

“We have now acquired reviews of a twister that hit Killona,” the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned on Twitter shortly earlier than 1 p.m. central time (2 p.m. ET). “Responding deputies have suggested of heavy injury to residences within the space of Schoolhouse Highway. Deputies are checking residences.”

The sprawling winter storm has swept throughout the center of america during the last two days, leaving elements of the Higher Plains and Midwest buried below blowing snow, closing faculties and making roads impassible.

The storm system has prompted dozens of flight cancellations and delays at airports throughout the area and threatened to cowl elements of the East Coast with ice and snow into Thursday.