“Violent tornado” pounds Jefferson City, Mo.; people trapped

What the National Weather Service calls a “violent tornado” hit Jefferson City, Missouri, late Wednesday night, leaving people trapped, power lines down and extensive damage.  All available first responders were being called to the city – Missouri’s state capital. There were reports of injuries. The city’s fire department said simply, “Pray for our citizens.”

CBS Jefferson City affiliate KRCG-TV obtained images of the funnel:

Three people were killed as a suspected twister hit the Golden City area of Barton County, in southwest Missouri Wednesday night. That’s not far from Joplin, where a catastrophic tornado leveled much of the city and killed 161 people exactly eight years ago.

In eastern Oklahoma, two barges broke loose and floated swiftly down the swollen Arkansas River Wednesday, spreading alarm downstream as they threatened to hit a dam.

It was the latest result of severe storms and torrential rains that have ravaged the Southern Plains and Midwest in recent days, from Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois. CBS News confirmed four deaths related to those storms.

Authorities urged residents of several small towns in Oklahoma and Kansas to leave their homes as rivers and streams rose.

Officials in the Arkansas River town of Webbers Falls, Oklahoma ordered a mandatory evacuation Wednesday afternoon because of the river’s rising level.

But Wednesday evening, a posting on the town’s official Facebook page sounded the alarm about the runaway barges for its 600 residents: “Evacuate Webbers Falls immediately. The barges are loose and has the potential to hit the lock and dam 16. If the dam breaks, it will be catastrophic!! Leave now!!”

There was no word by midnight Wednesday where the barges were on the river, but local television stations showing live video of the river and the lock and dam said they had not yet arrived. There was speculation they were stuck upstream.

For the third consecutive day, dangerous storms prompted numerous tornado warnings and reports of twisters touching down, most in Missouri and Oklahoma.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.