Tornadoes, High Winds Pummel 8 States; 3 in Family Die in Alabama

Residents picked through debris Wednesday and began cleaning up after storms spread tornadoes and high winds through eight states, killing three family members who had tried to take cover in a boathouse near Ragland, Ala., and damaging 140 buildings in Moberly, Mo.

In the Alabama tragedy, eight family members had been riding in a new pontoon boat Tuesday on Neely Henry Lake when a storm approached. The boat’s operator pulled over and everyone got into the boathouse, which was under construction on a dock.

A 29-year-old woman, her 4-year-old niece and the girl’s 8-year-old half-brother were killed when the roof collapsed from high winds, pinning them to the deck. The cause of death was listed as asphyxiation.

Three other adults were hurt in the collapse, but officials said none of the injuries were life-threatening.

In Moberly, crews brought gas leaks under control Wednesday after a powerful twister ripped the roof off City Hall and damaged 100 homes and 40 businesses.

Fifteen of the city’s 13,000 residents were taken to the hospital with injuries and two were kept overnight. Several of the downtown’s old red-brick buildings will have to be condemned, state officials said.

Other tornado sightings were reported in Duncans Bridge, Mo., and in Kansas, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Indiana and Minnesota, said meteorologist Mike Palmerino of Weather Services Corp.

Heavy rains swamped parts of Iowa and were falling Wednesday throughout the lower Mississippi River valley.

The most severe weather was concentrated in central and eastern Texas and across Arkansas and Louisiana, with scattered tree and power line damage.