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Tornado Touches down near Perkins and Cushing Oklahoma also near Norman

Tornados have touched down in Oklahoma and Arkansas as a powerful storm system moves through the middle of the US. At least one injury was reported when a home was hit in rural western Arkansas. The National Weather Service reported two tornados on the ground near Perkins and Ripley in north central Oklahoma and another west of Oden, Arkansas. Arkansas Emergency Management spokesman Tommy Jackson said first responders were having trouble reaching the destroyed home because a number of trees were blocking the road. Montgomery County Sheriff's spokeswoman Brandy Wingfield said there was property damage, including downed power lines, in the area. Perkins Emergency Management Director Travis Majors said there were no injuries or damage there. Ripley did not seem to have significant damage. The Payne County emergency management director did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. The tornadoes were much less dangerous than the EF5 storm that struck Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20 and killed 24 along its 27kme path. The US averages storms of that nature - with winds over 300kmh - only about once per year. The Moore storm was the nation's first EF5 tornado since 2011. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, warned that there was a moderate risk of severe weather over much of eastern and central Oklahoma, with storms also possible in the rest of the central United States from Texas to Wisconsin. In addition to tornadoes, the storms bring rain and hail. "Right now we've been getting a few thunderstorms, but they're very severe supercell thunderstorms," said Michael Scotten, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services. "The whole storm rotates, and they produce on occasion some tornadoes and heavy hail." The severe weather threat led organisers to postpone the start of the outdoor Wakarusa Music Festival near Ozark, Arkansas, which will feature Widespread Panic, The Black Crowes and the rapper Snoop Lion (formerly known as Snoop Dogg). An estimated 15,000 sought shelter from lightning and wind, according to the Times Record newspaper. Of the 60 EF5 tornadoes since 1950, Oklahoma and Alabama have been struck the most, seven times each. More than half of these top-of-the-scale twisters have occurred in just five states: Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Fewer than 1 percent of all US tornadoes are this violent - only about 10 a year, according to research meteorologist Harold Brooks at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman.

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