28/12/2015 BBC World News

Our top stories: Tornadoes and storms leave a trail of destruction

in America's southern states, with warnings of a blizzard on its way.

I cannot believe that this amount of damage was done.

As severe flooding across the north of England shows no

sign of letting up, hundreds more troops are called in to help.

Iraqi troops say they have retaken a government complex in Ramadi from

Islamic State fighters, but are still facing pockets of resistance.

And he has just rowed from San Francisco to Australia non-stop.

We meet the record-breaking Brit who is now back on dry land.

At least 11 people have died after a series of tornadoes ripped

Witnesses say it took just seconds to cause the devastation,

flattening homes, toppling trees, and bringing down powerlines.

Our North America correspondent Laura Bicker reports.

This is what is known as a tight twister.

You can only see brief flashes in the dark, as it destroys powerlines.

It was one of many to tear through Texas, with winds over 200 mph.

Cannot believe that this amount of damage was done.

It was probably 30 seconds.

By the time I could tell everybody to get down, the walls were shaking,

you could feel it in your chest, and as fast as it happened it was gone.

The devastation is clearer in daylight.

Debris lifted by the storm is scattered for miles.

This kind of weather is rare in December.

These storms across the south and west have killed 29

There are now unprecedented snowfalls in New Mexico and Texas.

Whiteout conditions have closed some highways.

And there are warnings of worse weather to come.

Meteorologist Mark Fox from the National Weather Service in Texas

Luckily, we're not expecting the snow to be very bad in Dallas

Fort Worth, but out toward Amarillo they have

They are seeing snow, and an historic blizzard.

Not going to make it all the way here, thankfully.

We've been busy with the tornadoes and rain.

We don't have that expression, "historic blizzard," here.

In Texas, normally, we get a little snow.

In west Texas, you could get one or two feet of snow.

But usually it doesn't come with the winds, and this will be a

once-in-a-lifetime thing for a lot of folks in west Texas.

That is where we get this historic blizzard.

What wind speeds have you measured, or indeed some of the rainfall?

Well, we've had a couple of inches here in the Dallas Fort Worth area.

Up to around 3-5 inches in places, probably closer to 7-8

And the snowfall, about 10-16 is what they're

expecting, we have seen drifts that high.

Quite a bit of rain, transitioning to snow,

and wind speeds around 30-40 mph, even a few gusts up to around 60-65

mph. So definitely not a day for a lot of travelling going on in west

But this is not normally peak time for these things, is it?

You expect that in spring, in three months.

Yeah, the snow is more or less on schedule.

We typically get a bit more in January and February, but

the springlike weather that we've had here in north Texas, with

those pictures you've shown earlier, that normally comes

around April-May-June, not December.

Not unprecedented, we did have a December 26 storm in 2009.

But this is one that a lot of people are not going to forget either.

Severe weather is also affecting parts of the UK.

500 soldiers have been sent to areas of the north of England affected

Rescue teams have been evacuating residents in York,

where water levels are still rising, and thousands

Our correspondent Judith Moritz is in York, where two rivers

After Cumbria and Lancashire, now it is Yorkshire's turn.

Another day, another county in the grip of the floods.

The people of York knew their city was vulnerable, but

The call to evacuate was made last night.

But not everyone could get out easily, and many had to be rescued.

Near York, fire crews helped several families.

Last night we started putting the sandbags up and boards up.

But the water came so quick. Before we could get everything

But not everybody has been happy to leave home, despite the warnings.

A lot of people have wanted to stay in their homes, quite stoic about

the fact that it is their house. And I think while the weather is

good, a dry day, it's quite fine. It is when

it gets to the evening, and starts to get dark, if

the power goes, that is when priorities change quickly.

On this road, east of the city centre, the water levels

Helen has a ground floor flat and is worried she may have to leave.

I've been here 20 years and never seen anything like it.

I mean, I'm quite concerned at the level it's getting to.

That it could potentially get into the flat, and that

Mountain rescue teams are helping from across the north of England.

And extra troops have been brought in as part of what is now a massive

In York, this is the nerve centre, where they are keeping track of the

Hugely dynamic situation, and all driven by what's going to happen

with the water levels, which continue to be on the rise,

though there is some uncertainty what that's going to mean.

A plea has been made for an extra 5,000 sandbags.

Some flood barriers had to be lifted, because

the pumps were overwhelmed, meaning areas of York were left vulnerable.

We've decided to deploy more military resources, more military

personel, but the emergency services have

done a fantastic job, they deserve

But at this time of year, particularly, we feel sympathy with

those who have been flooded and have had to leave their homes.

Elsewhere, Leeds city centre has been flooded

after the river reached record levels.

And away from the cities, in rural Yorkshire,

This city is functioning but with difficulty.

Tonight the telephone exchange was flooded, and for a short time

999 calls were unavailable, but they're now back on.

At a thousand homes a Mac -- there are clear that power could be lost

50,000 homes. And Judith said there were fears

that the situation in York could Yes, that is because river levels

are still rising and they won't So the next few hours are

said to be critical. This is a city which is functioning

but with enormous difficulty. In the last couple of hours the

telephone exchange has been flooded. 999 calls are back up now but

were down briefly. Nonemergency 101 police

line has been lost. I believe there are fire crews

currently pumping out water from one of the primary electricity

substations here as well. Fearing that power could

be lost to 50,000 properties. The advice is not to do so

unless you absolutely need to get It took us several hours to get here

in the centre. And overnight, as I say, it's

a critical situation. The army are working through

the night. They will continue to knock on doors

of people's homes around the path to the River

Ouse to make sure everyone is safe. Meanwhile, the worst flooding

in 50 years is continuing in parts of South America, where

more than 150,000 people have been The flooding is across Argentina,

Uruguay and Brazil, but one of the worst-hit countries is

Paraguay, as Reged Ahmad reports. This is the result of days of heavy

rain across parts of South America. Major rivers in low-lying areas had

swollen, flooding towns and homes and leaving thousands in the region

without shelter. The worst effect that areas are in Paraguay, where

the rivers asked ill rising and threatening tube burst their banks

as more rain is forecast. -- threatening to burst. The government

here is the latest date of emergency to try and get relief funds to the

150,000 people who have been forced to flee. For some help isn't coming

fast enough. TRANSLATION: We don't have water, we don't have light, we

don't even have food to eat. TRANSLATION: Please do something for

us. It shouldn't be that they just come when they need our votes, and

then they run off. The heavy summer rains are being blamed on the El

Nino phenomenon, and they have hit along the borders of Argentina,

Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay, causing four major rivers to swell

and flooding vast areas. In northern Argentina some 20,000 people have

been evacuated and water levels are still rising. In Brazil, the

President has been touring affected areas in the south, where thousands

have been evacuated across 40 towns in the wake of the torrential

rains. TRANSLATION: First we have to rescue the people. Second is the

rebuilding of the city and accessed to roads. And third is the project

of moving these away from flood risk areas. But before any rebuilding can

begin, the rains need to stop in the water levels need to subside. -- and

the water levels. Iraqi forces have made fresh gains

against militants They are on the verge

of retaking the major city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad,

which fell to IS in May, in what was The army have just regained control

of It is the last key position

in Ramadi. IS have been using

the compound to organise against the Iraqi army, who have been trying

to retake the city for weeks. Thomas Fessy sent this report

from Baghdad. This is what it takes to retake a

city from so-called Islamic State. The scene in Ramadi

after a six-day offensive with Iraqi soldiers leading a ground campaign,

supported by airstrikes Iraqi troops fought a battle

street by street, house to house. IS fighters had months to

build their defence, the whole But the security forces have now

forced the jihadis to abandon their stronghold, the former provincial

government compound, from where they Taking control of this position

is key to retaking Ramadi. Sporadic fighting continues

in the neighbourhood, but Iraqi forces are confident they

now have the upper hand. TRANSLATION: Our operations

that started a few days ago saw a rough day today for the armed

forces and counterterrorism forces, but we gained control of the key to

enter the governmental square. And this is what Iraqi soldiers want

to forget, when they abandoned Pictures of their hasty retreat were

an embarrassment for the country. It has taken months

for the security forces to work out They first isolated the city

from all sides, to cut off IS militants' supply routes

before this final push. This is a success

in the fight against Islamic State, but it is only the start of

a battle that will get much tougher Hundreds of Syrian Christians have

taken to the streets of their war-torn capital Damascus

for a Christmas parade. The revellers in the city's Qassa

district, which has suffered mortar attacks

since 2012, gathered for the event The celebration follows the death

of Zahroun Alloush on Friday. He was leader of

the most powerful Islamist insurgent In a few minutes: Why some

of the Soviet Union's most feared nuclear missiles have ended up

as an unlikely tourist attraction The most ambitious financial and

political change attempted has gone Tomorrow in Holland we will use

money we picked up in Belgium today, and then it will be in France,

and it is the same money. George Harrison, the former Beatle,

recovers in hospital after being A 33-year-old man from Liverpool is

being interviewed by police As a series of tornadoes

and storms have left at least 29 people dead in the southern United

States, forecasters warn that some And here in the UK,

the army's called in to help, as the severe flooding shows no sign

of letting-up. Pope Francis has called for

Central American countries to show generosity in dealing with the

rising numbers of Cuban refugees stranded in the region as they

attempt to get to the United States. The Pope said many of the Cubans

passing through Central America were The Pope made the remarks following

his traditional blessing on Sunday, to the pilgrims

at St Peter's Square. My thoughts go to

the numerous migrants who find Many of them are victims

of human trafficking. I invite the governments

of the region to generously renew the commitment to finding a rapid

solution to this human drama. There's been an 80% rise

in the number of Cubans seeking to It is thought they are worried that

relations between Washington and Havana may put an end to

the preferential treatment As many as 5,000 people are stranded

in camps on Costa Rica's border Costa Rica initially granted transit

visas to travel across its territory,

sparking a diplomatic row between Six weeks ago, Nicaragua announced

it would no longer allow people As migrants continue to flow in,

Costa Rica tried to broker a deal with its neighbours before it

suspended the visas ten days ago and warned future rivals

would be deported. That has had a knock-on effect, with

300 Cuban migrants now stranded in Costa Rica's southern

neighbour, Panama. Many have pitched tents near the

border in anticipation Officials in Paris say one

of the men who carried out the deadly terrorist attacks

on the French capital last month, Samy Amimour, has been buried

in an anonymous grave. Its reported he was buried

on Thursday in a suburb of Paris He was one of three suicide

attackers who killed 90 concert-goers at the Bataclan music

venue. A train carrying sulphuric acid has

derailed in the Australian state The locomotive and all 26 carriages

derailed at near the outback town The cause of the incident is

not known - the three drivers It was one

of the most feared weapons of the The USSR's SS-18 missiles were over

1000 times more powerful than the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima

and Nagasaki. But after the fall of the

Soviet Union, many of them ended up in the hands of Ukraine - who agreed

to put them out of service. Now the missiles and the silos that

housed them, serve as both tourist attraction and a reminder

of the nation's nuclear past. The latest effort Star Wars

franchise has become the fastest movie to gain $1 billion at the box

office. The man widely regarded

as Australia's first international pop star, Stevie Wright, lead singer

of the Easybeats has died. Their best known song, "Friday On My

Mind" became a worldwide hit and was voted the best-ever Australian song

in a 2001 music industry poll. The band broke up

after just five years. But their music went

on to be covered by David Bowie, Stevie Wright battled drug

and alcohol addiction for A British man has become

the first person to row non-stop and solo across the Pacific Ocean

from North America to Australia. John Beeden, who's 53,

set off from San Francisco on the first of June and rowed for

an average of 15 hours a day. John Beeden celebrated with family

and friends, after completing The 53-year-old Briton has been

rowing for up to 15 hours a day, It has been difficult the whole way,

but, in fairness, that is what I was I just didn't realise it was

going to be so difficult. I did the Atlantic, three years ago,

and, although it was hard work, I found the process

of doing the 53 days relatively easy, in a sense, it was just hard

work. I wanted to look

for something more difficult. He had hoped to reach the

north-eastern Australia, weeks ago, After travelling more than 14,000

kilometres, he was greeted one month later than expected,

by Australian custom officials. He says there were times he almost

gave up. I didn't think I could go on and

had to dig deep. Getting pushed back hundreds

of miles you've already rowed Some much needed downtime,

before returning to his home But what will be next

for this adventurer? He said he's not going to get

in another boat for a while, but after a couple of weeks, I'm sure he

will be having another adventure. We will have to restrain him a

little bit. I am sure he will be back on the

water soon. A reminder of the top story. A series of storms leave at

least 40 people dead in the southern United States. Forecasters warned

that some areas face major blizzards.

A lot more on our website. You can get in touch with us. This is BBC

News. The next couple

of days are looking dry and bright