The tornado that blasted Harrisburg, killing six, was an EF4, the second-highest rating given to twisters based on damage. Scientists said it was 200 yards wide with winds up to 170 mph.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This aerial photo shows a path of damage stretching west from the backside of a Wal-Mart Supercenter to the east in Harrisburg, Ill.
The Southern Illinoisan
Gov. Pat Quinn, right, speaks with Edith Raynes, 86, in front of her damaged home in Harrisburg, Ill., as family friend Debbie Russell of Herod, Ill., listens.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Twenty-one-year-old Frankie Wood Jr. carries a large stuffed horse and other items he was able to salvage from the debris that used to be his Kansas home. He and his family were inside the mobile home when the tornado hit. All survived.
Topeka Capital-Journal
Alli Ferrell, 10, left, and cousin Christian Murray, 12, sit on the front porch as Lindsey Murray, 15, of Harrisburg, Ill., paints "for sale fixer upper" on the side of the Harrisburg, Ill., home of their grandmother, Sharon Murray, 61, after a tornado destroyed it. Murray was not at home at the time of the storm. A prosthetic leg was found among the wreckage.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Insurance agent Jim Williams looks over the church bells that had fallen to the ground at St. Joseph's Catholic Church after a severe storm hit Ridgway, Ill.
The Southern Illinoisan
This aerial photo shows damaged homes near the corner of South Water and Birch Streets in Harrisburg, Ill.
The Southern Illinoisan
Judy Hudnall, right, buries her face in the shoulder of her brother, Gene Pickerill, after she arrived at the storm-thrashed scene on Nugent Drive in Henderson, Ky.
AP
Kentucky Utilities Co. workers remove a large tree blocking East Main Cross Street in Greenville, Ky., following a severe storm packing high winds.
The Messenger-Inquirer
Debris lies on the ground Wednesday outside Nell Cox's Harrisburg, Ill. home, where a tornado ripped through earlier in the day. Cox, a cancer survivor who lives alone, awoke during the tornado, shined a flashlight out her window and saw her neighbor, who was ejected from her bed and out a window, lying in a ditch. Cox, who is in her 70s, went outside and brought the woman to safety until emergency services came.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Several deaths have been reported in Harrisburg, Ill., and left the city's medical center scrambling to treat an influx of injured, the hospital's top administrator said.
The Southern Illinoisan
People try to salvage what they can after a tornado destroyed homes in their Harrisburg, Ill., neighborhood.
AP
Amanda Patrick, 31, talks about her neighbors, the Rann family, who died next door Wednesday during the tornado that ripped through Harrisburg, Ill. Patrick survived the storm by crouching in her bathtub.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jeff Rann, 29, right, pauses while sifting for possessions in the remains of his parents' duplex trying to salvage what he can after a tornado destroyed the Harrisburg, Ill., residence. Cancer survivors Randy Rann, 65, died at the scene and wife and Donna Rann died later at a hospital.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A grain silo destroyed by a tornado that blasted Harrisburg, Ill. lies among the debris.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Julie Shaw picks up jewelry belonging to Dorothy Hill in Harrisburg, Ill. Hill was injured and taken to the hospital.
AP
Jerry Mallard stand outside of his business after a tornado tore through Branson, Mo., early Wednesday. "One of my signs is four blocks down the road," Mallard said.
The Kansas City Star
An employee ducks under caution tape at the Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Mo., after powerful storms tore through the music resort town, injuring more than three dozen people. (
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Marvin Clutts, from left, Eugene Ballance, Mike Yates, Ginger Ballance and Connie Yeats help clean the home of Mickey Tweedy following a tornado in Union County, Ill. Tweedy was in her bed when the tornado took the roof off of her bedroom.
AP
About one third of the roof over the gymnasium at Muhlenberg County Middle School and a section of bleachers behind the gym lay in ruins following a severe thunderstorm in Owensboro, Ky.
The Messenger-Inquirer
Steven Vaught, center, tells bystanders about having survived a harrowing ride inside his mobile home when it flipped during a severe storm Wednesday morning near Central City, Ky. Vaught said he thought his trailer flipped five times before he found himself outside several hundred feet from where his home had been minutes earlier.
The Messenger-Inquirer
Mel Pulliam of Ridgedale, Mo., helps his daughter pull belongings from her car that was damaged in the tornado that struck Branson, Mo. His daughter, Tracy Kimmel, was working at a restaurant on the Branson Landing when the storm hit. In the background is the Hilton Hotel, which was heavily damaged by the tornado.
The Kansas City Star
A Chevy pickup sits overturned after a tornado struck the residence in rural Reno County, near Hutchinson, Kan.
The Hutchinson News
Glenda Geiser walks toward her house where a trampoline is stuck in the trees in her backyard after a tornado came through rural Reno County, near Hutchinson, Kan.
The Hutchinson News
LeRoy Hershberger looks at the tornado damage to his brother's shed in rural Reno County, near Hutchinson, Kan.
The Hutchinson News
Volunteers use a tarp to cover the roof of the home of Edith Raynes, 86, in Harrisburg, Ill.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jeff Woodyard, left, and Tabor Hill helped their neighbor clean up in Harveyville, Mo., after his home was declared a total loss after a tornado struck overnight.
The Kansas City Star
Patty Ferrell, of Herod, Ill., is overcome with emotion after finding nursing scrubs on a hanger that belonged to her daughter, Jaylynn Ferrell, 22, who was killed in a tornado that struck Harrisburg, Ill., on Wednesday. The tornado destroyed the duplex where Jaylynn Ferrell had lived.
State Journal-Register