SARAH PALIN NARROWLY avoided being hit by a deadly cluster of tornadoes in the US state of Massachusetts last night as she continues her bus tour across the East Coast of America.
The tornadoes killed at least four people, according to the The Times (subscription), which reports that the coach carrying the former US vice presidential nominee came within minutes of a direct hit by a tornado that cut across the motorway it was travelling on, mangling road signs, snapping trees and crushing cards.
So close was the Palin entourage that it was only an unscheduled stop to refuel the tour vehicles a while beforehand that saved them according to one member of the travelling party who said: “We stopped because we ran out of gas. If we hadn’t run out of gas…scary.”
The tornado cut a deadly and destructive path through western Massachusetts, touching down in portions of Springfield as four people were killed and 40 injured with as many as 19 communities in the state reporting damage by tornadoes as of yesterday evening, reports CNN.
A state of emergency was declared and 1,000 members of the National Guard are due to arrive in Springfield today to help with rescue efforts.
Meanwhile Palin continues her non-campaigning-but-sort-of campaigning bus tour along the east coast of the US as she mulls on whether or not to run for president, reports Politico.
She is scheduled to hit New Hampshire later today to take part in events there. It will be the first time she will have returned to the first primary state since the 2008 election when she was running mate with Republican nominee John McCain as he lost out to Barack Obama.
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