Tornado hits Mont. casino, rips off arena roof

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Tornado hits Mont. casino, rips off arena roof

Golf ball-sized hail is dumped on Billings; twister hovers for 15 minutes


montana%20tornado-180604152_v2.h2.jpg
Larry Mayer / AP
Main Street Casino staff members watch a second thunderstorm approach after they survived a tornado in Billings, Mont., on Sunday.
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BILLINGS, Mont. - A tornado that ripped the roof off a sports arena Sunday evening also tore through businesses, damaging a bar and a casino and leaving just the walls of an auto glass shop standing.


The tornado struck at about 4:30 p.m. as a big storm system with golf ball-sized hail passed through the area, National Weather Service meteorologist Keith Meier said.


After running through Main Street in the city's northeast area, the twister quickly moved toward the 10,000-seat Rimrock Auto Arena about a half-mile away, where it hovered for about 15 minutes, snapping trees and telephone poles.



"It would touch down and suck back up and touch down and touch down again," said Trooper Toman Baukema of the Montana Highway Patrol, who saw the tornado from a patrol station about a mile away.


Big pieces of metal could be seen hanging from power lines near the arena, and tangles of insulation and metal debris were strewn for hundreds of yards in the surrounding industrial area.


There were several employees inside the arena when it struck, but there were no reports of injuries, Baukema said.
There were no reported deaths and no one has been reported missing, Billings police Sgt. Kevin Iffland said last Sunday.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37818687/ns/weather/?GT1=43001
 

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