Tornadoes, severe weather kill 3 in US Midwest

At least three people have been killed after severe storms hit the US states of Indiana and Arkansas, local authorities said, as several tornadoes touched down in some areas.

The tornadoes were reported on Sunday afternoon in the southern portion of Indiana, according to the National Weather Service.Images and footage from local media showed fallen trees had blocked roads and damaged homes. A large hailstorm was also reported in Indiana and nearby states, officials said.

Emergency officials from Martin County, Indiana, confirmed one death. The victim’s injured partner was airlifted to hospital, Emergency Management Director Cameron Wolf said.The couple lived in a two-storey log cabin, which was destroyed, authorities said. Further details were not immediately available.

“Damage is random. It’s kind of widespread,” Wolf said in an interview with US news outlet PBS. The hardest hit areas were sparsely populated, he said.

Meanwhile, about 75 homes were damaged in Johnson County, Indiana – located south of the state capital, Indianapolis – including in the towns of Greenwood and Bargersville, officials said.

“Obviously, this is a very dangerous scene for the area,” Bargersville Fire Chief Eric Funkhouser said during a news conference. “We have power lines that are down all throughout that 3-mile area.”Speaking to the Indianapolis Star, Kimber Olson, 42, recounted telling her eight-year-old son to sit in the bathtub. She then went outside and filmed what appeared to be two tornado columns near her home in Bargersville.

“The sound is deafening,” Olson said. “You’ll never forget the sound. Your ears pop in such a strange way. You get a ring in your ear.”

After the tornado got closer, she went inside, closed all the doors and jumped in the bathtub with her son, she said.

She heard glass explode as her window shattered.A recent study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society suggested that the types of intense storms that are known to spawn tornadoes are expected to increase as temperatures rise from climate change.