Tornado Hurls Bus Onto School Roof

Jan. 11, 2008 — -- Storms from Illinois to Louisiana are spawning rare January tornados, including one twister that tossed a bus onto the roof of a school full of children.

The bus was sucked into the tornado's funnel in Caledonia, Miss. The huge vehicle was hurled like a toy on top of a high school gymnasium about 2 p.m. when students were still in class.

Luckily students were safe inside the solid brick walls, but the principal ordered everyone to take cover in the hallways.

Student Ryan Putnam said it was a terrifying experience.

"They had to move us all into one part of the school in the hallways. As we were sitting there, a girl sitting in front of me, she just passed out. I tried to shake her up, wiggle her and she wouldn't wake up," Putnam said.

Two students suffered minor injuries, but the damage could have been far worse if the tornado hit while students were boarding buses.

Tornadoes and heavy rain storms pummeled Mississippi and were blamed for the deaths of two motorists in separate crashes during the downpours.

In Alabama's Lamar County near the Mississippi line, at least two houses were destroyed in Sulligent, the National Weather Service said.

And in nearby Vernon, rescuers freed a woman who was pinned in her vehicle after a tree fell on it, said Don Dollar, an administrative assistant with the city.

Seven inches of rain and melting snow this week caused record-breaking floods in Illinois and Indiana.

Residents of Watseka, Ill., said it was the worst flooding they'd ever seen, and half the town remained underwater today.

Three families on one street lost their homes and are crowded in a neighbor's house. They've been bailing water out of the basement all night to keep the house dry.

The Sugar Creek River is seven feet over the flood marker, but the water seems to have crested. It may take several days for the area to dry up, because the ground is frozen and the water has nowhere to go.

The western part of the country didn't duck the wild weather either, with tornados reported in Washington state and Vancouver, Canada, just across the border from Oregon. No tornados have ever been reported in that part of the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.