U.S. 2008 Tornado Death Toll 58% Above Average

Buzz up!

Tornadoes killed at least 22, and flattened parts of in Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia over the weekend. Towns like Kite, Ga., and Picher, Okla., were all but wiped off the map.

The tornadoes came just three days after tornadoes left one dead in North Carolina and flattened a mall in Mississippi.

And though spring is typically only the start of tornado season, this is just the latest spate of killer tornadoes in the United States this year. Already, the death toll from tornadoes is 98 people, nearly 60% above the average over the past three years. It's the deadliest on record since 1998, according to USA Today and it's on pace to be the deadliest ever recorded. (ABC News put the death toll to date at 97 people.)

The 905 reported tornadoes through May 11 is far ahead of the total typically seen by this time of year. It's been late July or even early August by the time this many tornadoes have typically been recorded, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The U.S. has already been hit by 71% of the tornadoes expected in an typical year, when compared to the 10-year average. The year is only about 34% through, and we've only just entered the typical tornado season. 2008 has been unusual because the winter produced so many damaging storms.

Tornadoes kill 21, injure hundreds in U.S

ATLANTA, May 11, 2008 (Reuters) — Tornadoes killed at least 21 people and injured hundreds as they ripped through the central and southeastern United States over the weekend, destroying homes, overturning cars and downing trees and power lines.

Authorities said 14 people died in Missouri, six in Oklahoma and one in Georgia as the storms tracked a course from the border of Kansas and Oklahoma on Saturday into Georgia on Sunday.

Georgia authorities said earlier two had died in the state.

Twelve people were killed and more than 150 houses were damaged in Newton County, Missouri, on the Oklahoma border, said Susie Stonner of Missouri's Emergency Management Agency.

Hardest hit was Racine, a tiny community in Newton County about 170 miles south of Kansas City.

The path of destruction was a mile wide in some places, said Jason Schaumann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Missouri.