LAWRENCE, Kan. (March 13) - Tornadoes swept through portions of the Midwest, killing at least three people in Missouri, blowing roofs off homes in Illinois and Arkansas, and damaging about 60 percent of the buildings on the University of Kansas campus. A fourth storm death was reported in Indiana. Violent storms continued early Monday in Springfield, Ill., where a tornado also struck Sunday night, taking the roof off of a Wal-Mart. Mayor Tim Davlin said he expected "every square inch of Springfield" will have suffered some effect from the storms.  The storms forced the temporary closing of most major roads into the city. One man was reported missing after his home was destroyed; 19 others were treated at local hospitals for tornado-related injuries, authorities said.  In Missouri, severe weather was blamed for three deaths, including a woman who was killed Sunday as she tried to seek refuge from a tornado in her mobile home south of Sedalia. Two other people were missing Sunday night and six were injured, officials said.

 Bobby Ritcheson, 23, said he watched as his neighbor was killed.  "The trailer came down right on top of her," said Ritcheson, who talked to The Associated Press at a Sedalia hospital where he had taken his pregnant wife out of concern she might be going into labor.  Tornado sirens sounded at least three times in Sedalia on Sunday as one storm after another rolled through the city.  The severe weather followed a powerful storm that ripped through southern  Missouri and southern Illinois late Saturday, killing a married couple whose car was blown off the road and destroying homes along a path of more than 20 miles south of St. Louis, officials said.  John Gagan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield, Mo., said there would be no way of knowing the scope of the damage until 
Monday morning.  "We do not know the extent of this, since it's ongoing and fresh," he said. 
"Reports are coming in as we speak, but we won't know how bad it is until the light of day."  In Kansas, Provost David Shulenberger said classes were canceled Monday at the University of Kansas because of safety concerns about debris falling from rooftops. The Lawrence campus was littered with trees, roof tiles and window glass.  Two trees fell through Rhonda Burns' trailer in the town early Sunday.
 "If the wind had shifted that tree just a few inches, I wouldn't be talking to you," she said.  The storm was the first of several that passed through eastern Kansas and across most of Missouri on Sunday. High winds lifted a cargo container off the airfield at Kansas City International Airport and blew it into several vehicles. Hail -- some the size of baseballs -- was reported in several northwest 
Missouri counties.  Tornadoes also touched down Sunday in Oklahoma and Arkansas, while heavy 
rains and flooding swamped roads in Indiana. One storm-related fatality was reported Sunday in Indiana, where a man drowned after falling from a boat, state Department of Homeland Security spokesman Andy Zirkle said.  In northeastern Oklahoma, a tornado destroyed 25 to 50 homes when it ripped through rural Delaware County near the town of Oaks, said Mike Miller, spokesman for the Cherokee Nation.  At least 12 people were transported to a hospital, although none appeared to 
suffer life-threatening injuries, Miller said.  Meanwhile a tornado that tore through northwestern Arkansas late Sunday heavily damaged several dozen homes.  Greg Kospar, 41, of Bentonville, Ark., said he was awakened by his wife shortly before the storm hit.  "It was over before you knew it," Kospar said. "The house is gone. It sucks, it sucks big time."

 Associated Press reporters F.N. D'Alessio in Chicago, Noah Trister in Bentonville, Ark., David Lieb in Sedalia, Mo., Garance Burke and Margaret Stafford in Kansas City, and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.  3/13/2006 06:51:33
 

   AREAS AFFECTED...FAR NERN KS / SERN NEB / NWRN MO

   CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL 

   VALID 121309Z - 121445Z

   POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED LARGE HAIL IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP N OF WW 69 BY 14Z...AND A WW MAY BECOME NECESSARY.

   AS OF 13Z...REGIONAL RADAR IMAGERY SHOWED A CLUSTER OF ELEVATED TSTMS OVER THE NERN QUARTER OF KS MOVING 215/40 KTS.  SEVERAL    REPORTS OF LARGE HAIL HAVE BEEN RECEIVED WITH THESE STORMS OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF HOURS.  WHILE 12Z TOP SOUNDING INDICATED ONLY A MARGINALLY UNSTABLE AIR MASS /I.E. MUCAPES OF 500-700 J/KG/ FOR A
   PARCEL BASED AROUND 850 MB...ENHANCED LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE RETURN ABOVE NEAR SURFACE INVERSION WILL LIKELY CONTRIBUTE TO FURTHER DESTABILIZATION WITH TIME.

   THEREFORE...EXPECT THESE ELEVATED STORMS TO CONTINUE TO MOVE AND/OR DEVELOP NEWD INTO PORTIONS OF SERN NEB AND PERHAPS NWRN MO THIS MORNING WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR MARGINALLY SEVERE HAIL.

   ..MEAD.. 03/12/2006

   PUBLIC SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK 
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   0346 AM CST SUN MAR 12 2006

   VALID 120946Z - 121745Z

   ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OUTBREAK EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF THE LOWER MISSOURI AND MID MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEYS LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT...

   THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FEW STRONG...LONG-TRACK TORNADOES OVER PARTS OF THE LOWER MISSOURI AND MID MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEYS LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT.

   THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE FAR SOUTHERN IOWA WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS           MISSOURI

   SURROUNDING THE HIGH RISK AREA...THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND KANSAS INTO THE MID SOUTH AND OHIO RIVER VALLEY.

   A VOLATILE SITUATION IS EXPECTED TO UNFOLD OVER EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS AND MUCH OF THE LOWER MISSOURI...MID MISSISSIPPI    AND OHIO RIVER VALLEYS TODAY AND TONIGHT.  A VERY STRONG UPPER LEVEL
   STORM SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED JET MAX WILL QUICKLY OVERSPREAD AND UNSEASONABLY WARM AND MOIST SURFACE AIR MASS THIS AFTERNOON.  WE EXPECT THAT SEVERAL AREAS OF SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER WILL DEVELOP DURING THE PERIOD.  THE MOST SIGNIFICANT OF WHICH MAY OCCUR OVER THE NORTHERN HALF OF MISSOURI/FAR SOUTHERN IOWA INTO WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AHEAD OF A STRENGTHENING LOW PRESSURE CENTER AND ITS ACCOMPANYING WARM FRONT.  THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP DURING THE EARLY TO MID AFTERNOON AND RACE EAST-NORTHEASTWARDS THROUGH THE EVENING IN THE FORM OF TORNADIC SUPERCELLS...MANY OF WHICH COULD BECOME QUITE STRONG AND LONG-LIVED.  OTHER POTENTIALLY
   TORNADIC SUPERCELLS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE TODAY AND THIS EVENING ALONG A DRY LINE EXTENDING INTO FAR EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHEASTERN TEXAS.  THESE WILL SPREAD A THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER...INCLUDING DAMAGING TORNADOES...ACROSS ARKANSAS INTO THE MID SOUTH/LOWER OHIO RIVER VALLEY THROUGH THE NIGHT. 

THIS IS POTENTIALLY A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. THOSE IN THE THREATENED AREA ARE URGED TO REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY RULES AND TO LISTEN TO RADIO...TELEVISION...AND NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR POSSIBLE WATCHES...WARNINGS...AND STATEMENTS LATER TODAY.

   ..EVANS.. 03/12/2006