Tornado damages Arkansas town, storm hits Midwest

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Feb 24 (Reuters) - At least one tornado touched down in Dumas, Arkansas, on Saturday, injuring a number of people and destroying much of the small town's business district, while a strong winter storm moved across Colorado and into the Midwest.

A line of thunderstorms and at least one and possibly two tornadoes struck at about 3 p.m. in Dumas, about 85 miles (135 km) southeast of Little Rock.

"We have lots of injuries, lots. But no reports of fatalities thus far. That's something of a miracle," said Tina Owens, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

"Most of the businesses along the town's main corridor have been destroyed, and a number of homes immediately behind those businesses have been destroyed as well," she said.

An unidentified woman told a TV station that she and several friends were in a store when the storm hit.

"We all gathered in the center of the store and got down on the floor and covered our heads and prayed. The noise was incredible and I thought, 'This is it -- I'm gonna die.' But we all made it," she said.

Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter requested National Guard troops be dispatched to the area.

Severe weather also hit Colorado, where fierce winds and blowing snow were blamed for a 35-car pileup east of Denver early on Saturday, said Mindy Crane, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Crane said four or five minor injuries were reported.

The storm forced the closure of a 150-mile (240-km) stretch of Interstate 70 east of Denver to the Kansas border, and it remained closed late on Saturday afternoon, Crane said.

"We are still experiencing 50- to 60 mile-per-hour (80-96 kph) winds that are creating whiteout conditions," Crane said.

The storm was moving east and the National Weather Service said northern Illinois and northwest Indiana would be hit with a mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow by Monday.

Wisconsin will take the brunt of the storm, with a blizzard warning in effect for parts of the state, including Milwaukee, the Weather Service reported.

Seven people in Wisconsin died from traffic accidents related to the storm, which is expected to drop 7 to 10 inches (18-25 cm) of snow on the state, the Milwaukee Journal reported.

In the Chicago area, an ice storm warning was in effect until 6 a.m. CST on Sunday.

Airports in the Chicago area prepared for the storm, canceling some 230 flights out of O'Hare International Airport and 70 flights at Midway Airport as of 7 p.m. CST on Saturday, said Wendy Abrams, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Aviation Department.

United Airlines spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said the company had begun canceling flights by early afternoon and by 7 p.m. CST all United flights into O'Hare and Midway were canceled, she said.

Abrams said United was the only airline to cancel all its flights. "The remainder of flights are on time for both airports," she said.

Urbanski said United's cancellation policy was designed to keep customers safe at home rather than stuck in an airport or on an airplane.

"We recover from storms more quickly," she said.

Mozambique island tourists woken by cyclone wrath

MAPUTO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Peter Thomas was peacefully sleeping in a lavish island resort off Mozambique when the full wrath of tropical cyclone Favio slammed into his chalet.

"I was in my room enjoying my sleep and suddenly found myself in a pool of water and the rooftop was being ripped off," the South African said in the capital Maputo after being airlifted from battered Bazaruto island.

"The front windows were smashed and I could see the roof and satellite dishes flying over our heads," said another tourist, who declined to be identified.

Thomas and other tourists who cowered for 12 hours in bathrooms at the Indigo Bay resort as the cyclone uprooted palm trees and ripped apart buildings were lucky.

At the hotel, 600km north of Maputo, no one died from the cyclone, which killed four people and injured at least 70 in the resort town of Vilanculos since hitting the coast on Thursday.

It was downgraded on Friday to a tropical storm as wind speeds dropped from a peak of 270 kph (170 mph) and dissipated further on Saturday, officials said.

This lessened worries that rain from the storm would exacerbate several weeks of flooding that had already displaced more than 120,000 people.

Neighbouring South Africa said it would help in the relief effort, providing helicopters, tents and water treatment plants.

The European Commission was also planning to help airlift supplies and said it had sent an extra 2 million euros ($2.62 million) in emergency aid, the same amount it sent last week for the flooding victims.

TOURISM IMPACT MUTED

Lodges like Indigo Bay were reduced to rubble by the storm that hit the Bazaruto archipelago, a string of islands 40 km off the coast in the Indian Ocean dotted with luxury resorts.

Resorts there were especially vulnerable since they were constructed of natural materials like reed, thatch and wood to blend in with the tropical surroundings.

"The resort has been completely destroyed and they will have to shut it down for a couple of months," one of the tourists said.

A government official said the cyclone would not have a major impact on overall tourism in the country since other areas were spared by the storms.

"We have beautiful Islands in the northern Cabo Delgado and people still have destinations while we reconstruct Bazaruto," tourism ministry official Albino Mahumane told Reuters.

The former Portuguese colony, recovering from a devastating 16-year political conflict, saw its worst disaster on record in 2000-2001.

A series of cyclones then compounded widespread flooding in southern and central parts of the country, killing 700 people and driving close to half a million from their homes.