A popular coastal US tourist destination has declared a state of emergency after a tornado moved through the area on Sunday and damaged dozens of homes, downed trees and caused gas leaks.
Officials in the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia, said it was unclear how many homes had been damaged but they estimated between 50 and 100, after the tornado touched down just after 6pm, WTKR-TV reported.
There had been about 500 confirmed tornadoes in the US so far this year as the end of April approached, which is an above-average pace, according to the website DisasterPhilathrophy.org. Among them were an outbreak of tornadoes across the southern and midwestern US that killed more than 30 people at the beginning of April as well as a twister that killed more than 20 in Mississippi a week earlier.
Such devastating tornadoes could become more common because of changes spurred on by global heating, scientists have warned.
Virginia Beach’s city manager, Patrick Duhaney, declared a state of emergency on Sunday night. And as a result of the severe weather, Virginia Beach’s Something in the Water festival announced that all events for Sunday, its third day, were canceled.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The utility Virginia Natural Gas responded to several homes with gas leaks, and Dominion Energy was reporting just under 1,000 outages early Monday. Some roads in the area that was most affected would be closed as emergency and debris management crews worked there in the aftermath of the tornado, according to the city.
Crews were planning to be out at 8am on Monday to begin cleaning up streets.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, a tornado in North Palm Beach, Florida, left at least one apartment building uninhabitable and injured two people when their car was hit by winds from the twister. That tornado packed winds of up to 130 mph, and forecasters classified it as a 2 on the 0 to 5 EF intensity scale, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
