/ 13 August 2005

Tornado hits Wyoming town

A tornado on Friday struck a mobile home park in Wyoming with little warning, killing two people and injuring about a dozen others, authorities said.

Three people remained missing late on Friday night.

The twister touched down on Friday afternoon in this coal-mining town of 1 400 people about 160km north-east of Casper, said Campbell county Sheriff Bill Pownall.

”The warning was going off just as it hit from what I understand,” Pownall said. ”They didn’t have a lot of time to seek shelter.”

About 30 to 40 homes in the mobile home park were either damaged or destroyed, and a nearby elementary school also was damaged, the sheriff said.

One person was found dead at the scene, while a second died at a hospital in Gillette, Pownall said.

Two people were in fair condition at the hospital and five others were treated and released, officials said. — Sapa-AP