Severe weather plagues Midwest

NASHVILLE -- A line of thunderstorms swept across Tennessee, ripping apart homes, destroying a campground, and causing widespread flooding. A 7-year-old girl was killed early yesterday when winds caused the collapse of a wall at her grandparents' home.

At least nine others died in a weekend of powerful storms that produced heavy rain, high winds, and some tornado activity along an arc from Louisiana to New England. More thunderstorms moved across the Great Lakes states.

The Tennessee storms late Sunday and early yesterday dumped up to 2 inches of rain in just over an hour and delivered high winds and hail the size of golf balls.

Nearly 100 homes and farm buildings were destroyed or damaged in Giles County about 80 miles south of Nashville, including the home where 7-year-old Katie Hardman was killed.

A total of 22 people were injured in Hardin County -- most at a campground where wind knocked over trees, destroying some 25 camper trailers and three campsites along the Tennessee River near Alabama and Mississippi. Some of the trailers were blown into the river, Trey Brannom of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said.

The National Weather Service said it believed winds of more than 60 miles per hour caused the damage, although forecasters didn't rule out a tornado.

In Indiana, a Sunday afternoon tornado in Marengo, a town of 800 people about 35 miles northwest of Louisville, Ky., killed a senior citizen and destroyed at least 50 homes, said State Police Sergeant Todd Ringle. The twister had winds of up to 170 miles per hour, the Weather Service said.

In West Virginia, storms dumped more than 4 inches of rain in coalfields in the southern section of the state.

A senior citizen in Wyoming County died when he was swept away by flood waters, and his wife was injured.