Tornadoes

SHUQUALAK, Miss. -- A powerful spring storm unleashed tornadoes, hail and high winds as it swept through the Midwest into the Deep South, leaving three people dead and thousands without power before heading for the Carolinas early Friday.

MOBILE, Ala. — An enormous storm system that dumped snow and sleet on the nation’s midsection and unleashed damaging tornadoes around the Deep South began punching its way toward the Northeast on Wednesday, slowing holiday travel.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Amid preliminary estimates that an EF-2 tornado might have touched down in southwest Arlington on Tuesday, city officials Wednesday switched to recovery mode, allowing homeowners back into devastated neighborhoods, setting up a help center, and warning residents about shady contractors.

An estimated 428 homes were damaged when winds estimated at 135 mph roared through shortly after lunch, officials said.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Faster and more precise storm detection radar will get its first urban test this spring in Dallas-Fort Worth, mapping weather hazards down to street levels when tornadoes, high winds or flash floods threaten.

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana woman who saved her two children by binding them together with a blanket and shielding them with her body as a tornado ripped apart their house lost parts of both her legs, which were crushed by the falling debris, her husband says.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Fifteen-month-old Angel Babcock seemed to be the miracle survivor of a deadly tornado that killed her parents and two siblings when she arrived Friday night at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Ky. Though critically injured when the twister scooped her up and deposited her in a field, Angel was opening her eyes. Hospital workers said that was a hopeful sign.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.  — An Indiana toddler found in a field after violent tornadoes died Sunday after being taken off life support, ending a hopeful tale for survivors in the Midwest and South picking through the storms’ devastation.