Missouri: Major Tornado Rips Through Capital [VIDEO]

CNN reports:

A tornado hit the Missouri capital as people slept late Wednesday night — part of a deadly spring storm system that has ravaged the central United States over the past several days, unleashing twisters, drenching rain, flash flooding and hail.

At least 29 tornadoes have been reported over the past 24 hours, mostly in Missouri and Oklahoma, the National Weather Service said. A total of 171 have been reported since Friday.

In Jefferson City, the tornado’s funnel was wider than its height, and hit shortly before midnight Wednesday, sending debris as high as 13,000 feet into the air, the weather service said. “When it hit… it felt like an earthquake,” Cindy Sandoval-Jakobsen said.

NBC News reports:

The National Weather Service issued a tornado emergency for the Jefferson City area at 11:43 p.m., and the tornado hit shortly after that, said Jim Sieveking, science and operations officer for the weather service’s St. Louis office.

The weather service had issued a tornado warning for the Jefferson City area at 11:08 p.m. The first warning sirens went off in the city minutes later, Williams said. The warning was upgraded to a tornado emergency at 11:43 p.m., Sieveking said. The weather service tweeted “Violent tornado confirmed — shelter now!”

Residents capture footage of tornado swirling above houses in Carl Junction, Missouri, as severe weather hits the region. https://t.co/lzaqrvKPf8 pic.twitter.com/8LVlfzUHSW

— ABC News (@ABC) May 23, 2019

A destructive #tornado raked through Jefferson City, Missouri, just before midnight. Another tornado turned deadly last evening northeast of Joplin. The latest: https://t.co/Yq2uUVQhU4 pic.twitter.com/k8ISc22mWL

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) May 23, 2019

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