Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Alabama rescuers search for the missing after tornadoes kill at least 23

Published 03/04/2019, 10:40 AM
Updated 03/04/2019, 10:40 AM
© Reuters. People clear fallen trees and debris on a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S. in this March 3, 2019 still image obtained from social media video

© Reuters. People clear fallen trees and debris on a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S. in this March 3, 2019 still image obtained from social media video

By Deborah Bloom

BEAUREGARD, Ala. (Reuters) - Rescuers in Alabama on Monday dug through the remnants of homes and businesses destroyed by a spate of tornadoes that killed at least 23 people, including children, the deadliest such storms to strike the United States in almost six years.

The tornadoes ripped through Lee County on Sunday with winds of at least 150 miles per hour (240 kph), at the midpoint of the five-step Enhanced Fujita scale, which meteorologists use to measure tornado strength.

At least two and as many as five tornadoes hit an area of eastern Alabama near the Georgia border in the space of a few hours on Sunday afternoon, with some of the worst damage in the tiny community of Beauregard, according to the National Weather Service.

Mobile homes were tossed on their sides and ripped open, their contents strewn on the ground, live television images showed. Pieces of homes hung from trees that were not flattened by the storm.

More than 50 people were reported injured and the death toll is expected to rise, authorities said, which could make the storms deadlier than the tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013, killing 24 people.

"It looks almost as if someone took a giant knife and just scraped the ground. There are slabs where homes formerly stood, debris everywhere, trees are snapped," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told a morning news conference. "I've not seen this level of destruction ever in my experience in Lee County."

One of the dead was a 6-year-old child, Jones said.

Two of the injured were in critical condition and at least 20 people were missing, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told CNN.

"FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes," U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Monday, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Temperatures in the state fell to 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius) on Monday, leaving those without heat struggling with the cold.

© Reuters. People clear fallen trees and debris on a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S. in this March 3, 2019 still image obtained from social media video

The death toll was more than double the 10 people killed by tornadoes in the United States for all of 2018, according to government data.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.