By Brendan O’Brien

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Crews in central Oklahoma on Monday have been assessing the harm and clearing particles left behind by a string of uncommon February tornadoes that roared by means of the world in a single day, knocking out energy to 1000’s of consumers and injuring a dozen folks.

In Norman, 12 folks have been taken to the hospital after struggling minor accidents within the storms that rolled by means of and close to the town at round 11 p.m. native time on Sunday. Not one of the accidents have been life-threatening, Norman Chief of Police Kevin Foster stated throughout a information convention on Monday.

The tornado was certainly one of seven that touched down in Oklahoma and two extra have been reported in Kansas in a single day, the Nationwide Climate Service stated.

A number of houses, companies and faculties in Norman, which has about 128,000 residents, have been broken within the storms, he stated.

Some 13,000 houses and companies have been with out energy throughout Oklahoma, Poweroutage.us reported.

Video footage and images of the destruction on native information and social media confirmed energy traces mendacity in the midst of roadways, particles strewn throughout neighborhoods and roofs ripped off buildings. One photograph confirmed a crimson sedan flipped over and resting on prime of one other automobile.

“Lots of actual sturdy wind,” George Reich, a home-owner in Shawnee, a city east of Oklahoma Metropolis, informed an ABC affiliate. “Wooden and particles began flying. I jumped within the backseat of a automotive within the storage actual fast.”

Specialists say the rising frequency and depth of such storms, interspersed with excessive warmth and dry spells, are signs of local weather change.

“It was fairly uncommon, historic within the quantity” of wind shear, stated Bruce Thoren, a Nationwide Climate Service meteorologist in Norman, concerning the Oklahoma twisters, noting that the state has seen solely 51 tornadoes in February since 1950.

4 further twisters have been reported in Illinois on Monday morning however none induced vital harm, based on on-line reviews by the Nationwide Climate Service.

By Monday afternoon, the service had issued a number of further twister advisories for components of Indiana, the place they warned of sturdy storms and damaging winds all through the day.

“TAKE COVER NOW! Transfer to a basement or an inside room on the bottom ground of a sturdy constructing,” the climate service stated in a single twister warning for the Indianapolis space on Monday afternoon.

The tough climate comes after days of a winter storm clobbered the U.S. Plains, Midwest and Nice Lakes areas. Greater than 155,000 houses and companies in Michigan remained with out energy on Monday, Poweroutage.us reported.

Elements of California spent the weekend coping with heavy snows in increased elevations, rain and hail within the flatlands and frigid temperatures in components of the state which might be recognized of its gentle climate.