Community Corner

The Week in Photos: SantaCon, Nature's Fury, New Omicron Fears

Also, President Biden awarded the Medal of Honor; hurricane-force winds, tornadoes ravage parts of U.S.; Kim Potter takes the stand.

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An American flag is draped over debris Sunday after a tornado in Dawson Springs, Kentucky.
An American flag is draped over debris Sunday after a tornado in Dawson Springs, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Michael Clubb)

ACROSS AMERICA — Many people felt Mother Nature's fury this week as unusual weather swept through several U.S. states, bringing strong storms, hurricane-force winds and tornadoes to many parts of the country.

Almost a week after a deadly tornado outbreak in Kentucky and neighboring states, families of the victims are still processing the terrible toll. On Friday, the body of a missing teenager was found, bringing the total of storm-related deaths in five states to 90, including 76 in Kentucky.

And in the Midwest, five people were killed when a powerful storm system swept across the Great Plains on Wednesday, closing highways in western Kansas, spawning reported tornadoes in Nebraska and Iowa, and raising concerns about fires because of unusually high temperatures.

Find out what's happening in Across Americafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Separately, on Friday, the suburban Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright spoke publicly for the first time, testifying that the traffic stop “just went chaotic” after Wright tried to get back into his car and leave.

"I remember yelling, Taser, Taser, Taser, and nothing happened, and then he told me I shot him," said Kim Potter, who is charged with manslaughter in Wright’s April 11 death.

Find out what's happening in Across Americafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Here's a roundup of photos highlighting various events that happened this week:

People dressed in Santa Claus costumes order drinks at Mustang Harry's during SantaCon in New York City. SantaCon returned this year after it was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Michelle Jones covers her head with a bag as she watches large waves along Mission Beach in San Diego, California. Rain drenched Southern California as a powerful storm slid down the state, snarling traffic and raising the threat of mudslides in areas scarred by wildfires. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
A local resident surveys the damage to a washed-out road in Silverado Canyon, California. In Orange County, south of Los Angeles, about 800 canyon homes were under evacuation orders Tuesday after a flash flood warning was issued and mudslides were reported in the area scorched by the Bond wildfire in 2020. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)
A vehicle is seen in the Los Angeles River at the Washington Bridge near downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
An American flag flies amid the debris of destroyed homes in the aftermath of tornadoes that tore through the area of Mayfield, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A cleanup worker walks past damaged trees and debris in Mayfield, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
A young boy holds a candle during a vigil in the aftermath of tornadoes that tore through the Mayfield, Kentucky, area several days earlier. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The Hodgeman County undersheriff confirmed these grain bins were blown away from a nearby farm into cornfield across Highway 283 on Wednesday in Jetmore, Kansas. (Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP)
The dust from heavy winds obscures the sun in Hodgeman County in Jetmore, Kansas, on Wednesday. (Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP)
President Joe Biden stands with Army Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee and his family after presenting Plumlee with the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan. The medal was awarded to three servicemembers on Thursday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A line stretches down the block as people wait to be tested for the coronavirus in New York City. A sense of dismay about the pandemic and the omicron variant has overtaken the festive mood as the holiday season approaches. (AP Photo/Brooke Lansdale)
Students walk along Ho Plaza at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, after the university abruptly shut down all campus activities on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth)
Members of the Maine National Guard arrive for orientation an empty wing at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine. The Guard will work as nursing assistants, helping to open a swing bed unit of the hospital that has been closed due to a nursing shortage. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
In this screen grab from video, former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter testifies in court Friday at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Potter is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter in the April 11 shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, following a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center. (Court TV, via AP, Pool)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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