Rare tornado strikes Los Angeles suburb as ‘bomb cyclone’ smashes US
A rare yet powerful tornado struck a Los Angeles suburb on Wednesday, ripping roofs off a line of commercial buildings and sending the debris twisting into the sky.
One person was injured in the extreme weather, with the National Weather Service confirming the tornado had touched down in Montebello at around 11.20am on Wednesday.
The weather service later said that the tornado had winds of 86mph to 110mph, making it the strongest tornado to hit the Los Angeles metropolitan area since March 1983.
A fallen tree and debris are seen after a tornado damaged several buildings in Montebello
“It’s definitely not something that’s common for the region,” said meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld of the weather service.
City spokesman Alex Gillman said the injured person was taken to a hospital in Montebello and he did not know the severity of the injury.
Debris was spread over more than one city block, while inspectors checked 17 buildings in the area and marked 11 of them as uninhabitable, according to the fire department. Several cars were also damaged.
One man who experienced the tornado, Michael Turner, said he could hear the winds get stronger from inside his office at the 33,000sq ft warehouse he owns just south of downtown Montebello.
Debris was spread across Montebello in California following the tornado
He went outside after the lights started flickering to find his employees gazing up at the ominous sky, before bringing everyone inside.
“It got very loud. Things were flying all over the place,” Mr Turner said. “The whole factory became a big dust bowl for a minute. Then when the dust settled, the place was just a mess.”
Among other damages to his property, a 5,000sq ft section of roof was “just gone,” Mr Turner said.
He said his polyester fibre business, Turner Fiberfill, could be closed for months, adding: “I’ve been in California since 1965. Never seen anything like this. Earthquakes – we’re used to that.”
The severe weather comes amid a strong late-season Pacific storm that brought damaging winds and more rain and snow to saturated California.
The National Weather Service said the storm was tapering off in California from north to south while pushing inland across the southwest, the Four Corners region and the central and southern Rockies.
A boat and houseboat float submerged at Jack London Aquatic Center in Oakland, California
Extreme weather caused by ‘explosive cyclogenesis’
Meteorologists said extreme conditions across California were caused by an extraordinary drop in barometric pressure over the eastern Pacific and described it as “explosive cyclogenesis” – otherwise known as a “bomb cyclone”.
In a briefing on Tuesday, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain confirmed this notion by saying the weather system had reached the benchmark for a phenomenon known as bombogenesis, or a “bomb cyclone”, indicating a rapid drop in pressure, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A tree lies on a car on Parker Avenue in San Francisco after heavy rainstorms on Wednesday
Two people were killed on Tuesday as the storm battered the San Francisco Bay area with powerful gusts and downpours. A total of five deaths have so far been attributed to the storms.
Another tornado hit a mobile home park in the Santa Barbara County city of Carpinteria on Tuesday, with gusts up to 75mph that damaged around 25 homes.
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Elsewhere, some residents of north-central Arizona were told to prepare to evacuate their homes on Tuesday because of rising water levels in rivers and basins.
Around 82,000 customers were without electricity Wednesday evening throughout the state, according to PowerOutage.us.
Police in Tennessee have discovered 14 improvised explosive devices in a man’s home as they were arresting him, the local sheriff’s office said.
Officers were executing a warrant in the home of Kevin Wade O’Neal in Old Fort, about 45 miles (70km) east of Chattanooga, after he had threatened to kill public officials and law enforcement personnel in Polk County.
After arresting the 54-year-old, officers noticed “something smouldering” in the bedroom where he was found.
Kevin Wade O’Neal. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
On closer inspection, they discovered an improvised explosive device and evacuated the house until bomb squad officers arrived at the scene.
Fourteen devices were found inside the property – none of which detonated.
Improvised explosive devices were found in Kevin Wade O’Neal’s home. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
Kevin Wade O’Neal’s home in Old Fort, Tennessee. Pic: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
O’Neal was charged with 11 counts of attempted first-degree murder, corresponding to nine officers and two other people inside the property when the suspect tried to detonate the devices.
He also faces 14 counts of prohibited weapons and one count of possession of explosive components.
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O’Neal is being held at the Polk County jail and his bond is yet to be determined.
Donald Trump says he has ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the “appropriate regions” in a row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
It comes after Mr Medvedev, who is now deputy chair of Russia‘s Security Council, told the US president on Thursday to remember Moscow had Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort.
On Friday, Mr Trump wrote on social media: “Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.
“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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Trump: ‘We’re going to protect our people’
Speaking outside the White House later in the day, Mr Trump was asked about why he had moved the submarines and replied: “We had to do that. We just have to be careful.
“A threat was made and we didn’t think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful. So I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we’re going to protect our people.”
The spat between Mr Trump and Mr Medvedev came after the US president warned Russia on Tuesday it had “10 days from today” to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face tariffs, along with its oil buyers.
Moscow has shown no sign that it will agree to Mr Trump’s demands.
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On Thursday, Mr Medvedev reminded Mr Trump that Russia possessed a Soviet-era automated nuclear retaliatory system – or “dead hand”.
Mr Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was referring to a secretive semi-automated Soviet command system designed to launch Russia’s missiles if its leadership was taken out in a decapitating strike.
He made the remarks after Mr Trump told him to “watch his words” after Mr Medvedev said the US president’s threat of hitting Russia and its oil buyers with punitive tariffs was “a game of ultimatums” and added that “each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war” between Russia and the US.
Dmitry Medvedev. Pic: Reuters
Mr Medvedev served as Russia’s president from 2008 and 2012, when Mr Putin was barred from seeking a third consecutive term, but then stepped aside to let him run again.
As deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, he has become known for his provocative and inflammatory statements since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.
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