Fourth day of nasty storms ravages central US

An outbreak of nasty storms in the Midwest spawned tornadoes that razed homes, flattened trees and tossed cars across a dealership lot, injuring about two dozen people in Missouri's capital city and killing at least three others elsewhere in the state.

The National Weather Service confirmed that a large and destructive twister moved over Jefferson City shortly before midnight Wednesday.

Officials said the tornado packed winds of up to 160 miles per hour (257.48 kilometers per hour) and cut a path about 3 miles (4.83 kilometers) long and a mile (1.6 kilometer) wide. Emergency workers reported about two dozen injuries but no fatalities in the city of about 40,000 people.

This aerial image shows severe storm damage in Jefferson City, Mo., Thursday, May 23, 2019, after a tornado hit overnight. A tornado tore apart buildings in Missouri's capital city as part of an overnight outbreak of severe weather across the state. (AP PhotoJeff Roberson)

For the fourth consecutive day, tornadoes strafed the middle of the country Thursday, this time concentrated in sparsely populated panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas. The weather service received reports of more than a dozen tornadoes, along with numerous reports of large hail and torrential rain.

Storms this week in the central U.S. have left at least seven people dead, including three near Golden City, Missouri.

Kenneth Harris, 86, and his 83-year-old wife, Opal, were found dead about 200 yards (180 meters) from their home, and Betty Berg, 56, was killed and her husband, Mark, seriously injured when their mobile home was destroyed, authorities said.

In this aerial image, water from the Keystone Dam is released on Thursday, May 23, 2019, in Sand Springs, Okla. Storms and torrential rains have ravaged the Midwest, from Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois, in the past few days. (Tom GilbertTulsa World via AP)

While forecasters said the threat of severe weather would ease Friday and into the weekend, another natural disaster could be imminent in Jefferson City. Most of the city, including the tornado-ravaged section, sits on a bluff overlooking the south side of the Missouri River. The swollen river is projected to top a levee on the north side of the river by Friday, potentially flooding the city's airport, which already has been evacuated.

Many in Jefferson City considered themselves fortunate to survive the tornado.

David Surprenant watched the storm approach then rushed to join his family in the basement. By then, the windows had started shattering and the pressure dropped.

A worker walks past tornado-damaged Toyotas at a dealership in Jefferson City, Mo., Thursday, May 23, 2019, after a tornado tore though late Wednesday. (AP PhotoCharlie Riedel)

"It was just the eeriest sound ever, and it felt like it was taking your breath right out of you," Surprenant, 34, said. He and his family were unharmed.

Kerry Ann Demetrius locked herself in the bathroom of her Jefferson City apartment as the storm approached.

"It sounded like stuff was being thrown around, everything was just banging together, and then it just went dead silent," she said. She emerged to find the roof had been blown off her apartment building.

Plastic chairs lie in the road and metal from a damaged gas station roof is twisted around a downed power line in Jefferson City Missouri Thursday, May 23, 2019. The National Weather Service has confirmed a large and destructive tornado has touched down in Missouri's state capital, causing heavy damage and trapping multiple people in the wreckage of their homes. (AP PhotoDavid A. Lieb)

The National Weather Service said preliminary information indicates the tornado at Jefferson City was an EF-3, which typically carry winds up to 160 mph (260 kph).

The severe weather moved in from Oklahoma, where rescuers struggled to pull people from high water.

Flood waters along the Arkansas River could approach or surpass record levels for about 120 miles (193 kilometers) from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Fort Smith, Arkansas. More than 1,000 homes have been damaged and 35 to 40 highways closed by flood waters in Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt told reporters Thursday evening.

This image posted on Twitter account of Stechshultsy shows tornado-hit Jefferson City. MO., Thursday, May 23, 2019. The National Weather Service has confirmed a large and destructive tornado has touched down in Missouri's state capital, causing heavy damage and trapping multiple people in the wreckage of their homes. (Stechshultsy via AP)

The heavily traveled Interstate 40 bridge over the Arkansas River at Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, reopened after a dam escaped major damage when a pair of loose barges rammed into it.

The barges, carrying a total of about 3,800 pounds (1,700 kilograms) of fertilizer, broke loose Wednesday and floated down the swollen river. They eventually hit the dam and sank, causing only "minimal damage," The Army Corps of Engineers said.

A twister also caused damage and several injuries in the town of Carl Junction, not far from Joplin, on the eighth anniversary of the catastrophic tornado that killed 161 people in that city. Police Chief Delmar Haase said nearly three dozen homes had significant damage and several people sustained minor injuries.

This image posted on Twitter account of Stechshultsy shows tornado-hit Jefferson City. MO., Thursday, May 23, 2019. The National Weather Service has confirmed a large and destructive tornado has touched down in Missouri's state capital, causing heavy damage and trapping multiple people in the wreckage of their homes.(Stechshultsy via AP)

Associated Press writers Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City; Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Jim Salter in St. Louis; and Ken Miller and Tim Talley in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

This image posted on Twitter account of Stechshultsy shows tornado-hit Jefferson City. MO., Thursday, May 23, 2019. The National Weather Service has confirmed a large and destructive tornado has touched down in Missouri's state capital, causing heavy damage and trapping multiple people in the wreckage of their homes.(Stechshultsy via AP)

This image posted on Twitter account of Stechshultsy shows tornado-hit Jefferson City. MO., Thursday, May 23, 2019. The National Weather Service has confirmed a large and destructive tornado has touched down in Missouri's state capital, causing heavy damage and trapping multiple people in the wreckage of their homes.(Stechshultsy via AP)

This image provided by John Dolson shows the damage of a car dealership in Jefferson City, MO., Thursday, May 23, 2019. A "violent tornado" touched down in Jefferson City, Missouri, causing possible fatalities, according to the National Weather Service.(John Dolson via AP)

This still image provided by KMOV-TV shows people going through their belongings after a tornado destroyed the roof of their home on Thursday, May 23, 2019 in Jefferson City, Mo. The National Weather Service confirmed that the large and destructive twister moved over Jefferson City shortly before midnight Wednesday. (KMOV-TV via AP)

Severe storm damage is seen in Jefferson City, Mo., Thursday, May 23, 2019, after a tornado hit overnight. A tornado tore apart buildings in Missouri's capital city as part of an overnight outbreak of severe weather across the state. (AP PhotoJeff Roberson)

Debris from a home that David Surprenant rents with his family is scattered across the lawn Thursday, May 23, 2019, the morning after a tornado hit Jefferson City, Mo. Surprenant said his family fled to the basement while he watched the sky outside. Officials are going door-to-door to survey damage after a tornado ripped a 3-mile path through Missouri's capital city. The destruction in Jefferson City was part of an outbreak of severe weather overnight. (AP PhotoSummer Ballentine)

In this aerial image, the Indian Springs Sports Complex is under water after flooding from the Arkansas River on Thursday, May 23, 2019. Storms and torrential rains have ravaged the Midwest, from Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois, in the past few days. (Tom GilbertTulsa World via AP)

People walk up Dunklin Street on Thursday, May 23, 2019, in Jefferson City, Mo. The early analysis of storm damage has led the National Weather Service to believe the town was struck by an EF3. (Liv PaggiarinoMissourian via AP)

This aerial image shows severe storm damage in Jefferson City, Mo., Thursday, May 23, 2019, after a tornado hit overnight. A tornado tore apart buildings in Missouri's capital city as part of an overnight outbreak of severe weather across the state. (AP PhotoJeff Roberson)

In this aerial image, flood waters closed a road near Skiatook, Okla., on Thursday, May 23, 2019. Storms and torrential rains have ravaged the Midwest, from Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois, in the past few days. (Tom GilbertTulsa World via AP)

In this aerial image, homes are inundated with flood waters from the Arkansas River near South 145th West Ave near Highway 51 on Thursday, May 23, 2019, in Sand Springs, Okla. Storms and torrential rains have ravaged the Midwest, from Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois, in the past few days. (Tom GilbertTulsa World via AP)

NEW DELHI (AP) — The hugely popular Chinese app TikTok may be forced out of the U.S., where a measure to outlaw the video-sharing app has won congressional approval and is on its way to President Biden for his signature.

In India, the app was banned nearly four years ago. Here's what happened:

In June 2020, TikTok users in India bid goodbye to the app, which is operated by Chinese internet firm ByteDance. New Delhi had suddenly banned the popular app, alongside dozens other Chinese apps, following a military clash along the India-China border. Twenty Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed, and ties between the two Asian giants plunged to a new low.

The government cited privacy concerns and said that Chinese apps pose a threat to India’s sovereignty and security.

The move mostly drew widespread support in India, where protesters had been calling for a boycott of Chinese goods since the deadly confrontation in the remote Karakoram mountain border region.

“There was a clamour leading up to this, and the popular narrative was how can we allow Chinese companies to do business in India when we’re in the middle of a military standoff,” said Nikhil Pahwa, a digital policy expert and founder of tech website MediaNama.

Just months before the ban, India had also restricted investment from Chinese companies, Pahwa added. “TikTok wasn’t a one-off case. Today, India has banned over 500 Chinese apps to date.”

At the time, India had about 200 million TikTok users, the most outside of China. And the company also employed thousands of Indians.

TikTok users and content creators, however, needed a place to go — and the ban provided a multi-billion dollar opportunity to snatch up a big market. Within months, Google rolled out YouTube Shorts and Instagram pushed out its Reels feature. Both mimicked the short-form video creation that TikTok had excelled at.

“And they ended up capturing most of the market that TikTok had vacated,” said Pahwa.

In India, TikTok content was hyperlocal, which made it quite unique. It opened a window into the lives of small-town India, with videos coming from tier 2 and 3 cities that showed people doing tricks while laying down bricks, for example.

But for the most part, content creators and users in the four years since the ban have moved on to other platforms.

Winnie Sangma misses posting videos on TikTok and earning a bit of money. But after the ban, he migrated to Instagram and now has 15,000 followers. The process, for the most part, has been relatively painless.

“I have built up followers on Instagram too, and I am making money from it, but the experience isn’t like how it used to be on TikTok,” he said.

Rajib Dutta, a frequent scroller on TikTok, also switched to Instagram after the ban. “It wasn’t really a big deal,” he said.

The legislation to outlaw the app has won congressional approval and now awaits a signature from Biden.

The measure gives ByteDance, the app’s parent company, nine months to sell it, and three more if a sale is underway. If this doesn’t happen, TikTok will be banned. It would take at least a year before a ban goes into effect, but with likely court challenges, it could stretch longer.

In India, the ban in 2020 was swift. TikTok and other companies were given time to respond to questions on privacy and security, and by January 2021, it became a permanent ban.

But the situation in the U.S. is different, said Pahwa. “In India, TikTok decided not to go to court, but the U.S. is a bigger revenue market for them. Also, the First Amendment in America is fairly strong, so it’s not going to be as easy for the U.S. to do this as it was for India,” he said, in reference to free speech rights in the U.S. Constitution.

As Chinese apps proliferate across the world, Pahwa says countries need to assess their dependency on China and develop a way to reduce it as the apps can pose a national security risk.

The app is also banned in Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan and restricted in many countries in Europe.

“Chinese intelligence law and its cybersecurity law can allow Chinese apps to work in the interest of their own security. That creates a situation of distrust and it becomes a national security risk for others,” said Pahwa.

“There should be different rules for democratic countries and for authoritarian regimes where companies can act as an extension of the state,” he added.

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This story corrects the expert's erroneous reference to Fourth instead of First Amendment.

FILE- Activists of Jammu and Kashmir Dogra Front shout slogans against Chinese President Xi Jinping next to a banner showing the logos of TikTok and other Chinese apps banned in India during a protest in Jammu, India, July 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Channi Anand, File)