High Winds Hit States From Fla. To Okla.

High Winds Hit States From Fla. to Okla. ALAN SCHER ZAGIER Associated Press Writer PARIS, Mo. (AP) _ Storms that raked the Plains and Southeast on Thursday tossed

Friday, October 19th 2007, 5:39 am

By: News On 6

High Winds Hit States From Fla. to Okla.

ALAN SCHER ZAGIER

Associated Press Writer

PARIS, Mo. (AP) _ Storms that raked the Plains and Southeast on Thursday tossed a mobile home in Missouri, killing both people inside, and spawned a tornado in Florida that sent mall shoppers and children at a day-care center running for cover.

In rural northeastern Missouri, the state Highway Patrol said Kent Ensor and Kristy Secrease had sought refuge in Secrease's mobile home in Monroe County as a tornado approached. Their bodies were found about 400 feet from where the home had been.

The mobile home's frame was found three-quarters of a mile away, with debris as far as two miles away. The National Weather Service said the storm traveled a mile and had winds as high as 135 mph.

Ensor, 44, and Secrease, 25, had been dating for about a year, friends and family members said.

``Everybody knows everybody here,'' said Jim Lovelady, who moved to the Paris area in 1994. ``This hurts.''

A tornado late Thursday morning in Pensacola, Fla., damaged the city's major shopping mall.

Eddie English Jr., a department store stock manager, said he heard the wind outside the store suddenly speed up and get louder. Then mall security guards entered the store and ordered 200 to 300 employees and shoppers into the basement.

Lindsey Lassiter, manager of the mall's Express for Men store, said water poured in from her shop's damaged ceiling. In downtown Pensacola, electricity was out and streets filled up with several inches of water from rain that began around dawn.

Escambia County sheriff's spokesman Glenn Austin said the Greater Little Rock Baptist Church's roof was damaged, as was its day-care center. But the children there had been moved to safety before the tornado struck, he said.

``They heard the warnings, grabbed the kids and followed the drill,'' he said.

Jack Cullen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, confirmed that a tornado touched down shortly before noon.

The severe weather continued into the night in parts of the South. Thunderstorms injured four people in a trailer west of Louisville, Ky., said Capt. Jeff Jones of the Daviess County Sheriff's Office. The nature of their injuries was not immediately available.

Possible tornadoes were also reported Thursday night in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. Winds reached 80 mph in New Amsterdam, Ind., said Larry Dattilo of the National Weather Service.

To the West, a separate system brought the season's first big storm to coastal Washington, where a falling tree injured a woman and more than 50,000 customers lost power. A gust of 62 mph was reported in Spanaway, said Weather Service meteorologist Carl Cerniglia.

The night before in Tulsa, Okla., more than 7,000 people were at the Oktoberfest festival when the tents collapsed. Five of those hurt remained hospitalized Thursday, and three were in serious condition with head injuries, concussions and lacerations, said Tina Wells, spokeswoman for the Emergency Medical Services Authority.

The storm brought wind gusts as high as 90 mph, said Steve Piltz, a Weather Service meteorologist. Tulsa County was under a tornado watch and severe thunderstorm warning when the storm hit the tents, he said.

Less than an hour earlier, the skies had been clear, said Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor.

``The wind came up incredibly quick, and I don't think anyone can prepare for those kinds of winds,'' said Michael Sanders, the promotions chairman for the Oktoberfest event.

North of Tulsa, five people were injured and 25 mobile homes and travel trailers were damaged when the storm hit a mobile home park between Oologah and the Washington County line, the Oologah-Talala Emergency Medical Services District reported. None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening, officials said.