dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Storms, tornadoes slam US South, killing at least 7 people.

SELMA, Ala. (AP) — A giant, swirling storm system billowing across the South on Thursday killed at least six people in central Alabama, where a tornado ripped roofs off homes and uprooted trees in historic Selma, while another person was killed in Georgia, where severe winds knocked out power to tens of thousands of people.

In Autauga County, Alabama, 41 miles (66 kilometers) northeast of Selma, at least six fatalities were confirmed and an estimated 40 to 50 homes were damaged or destroyed by storms that cut a strip across the county, said Ernie Baggett, the county’s emergency management director.

At least 12 people were injured severely enough to be taken to hospitals by emergency responders, Baggett told The Associated Press, adding that he didn’t know the extent of their injuries. He said crews were focused Thursday evening on cutting through downed trees to look for people who may need help.

“There are some houses that were completely destroyed that haven’t been searched yet,” Autauga County Coroner Buster Barber said late Thursday, adding that crews “are still in the process of searching through rubble.”

In Georgia, a passenger died when a tree fell on a vehicle in Jackson during the storm, Butts County Coroner Lacey Prue said. In the same county southeast of Atlanta, the storm appeared to have knocked a freight train off its tracks, officials said.

TORNADOES

Weather Service: Storms sparked at least 6 Illinois twisters

Kentucky AG navigates GOP feud as he files for governor

South cleans up from tornadoes as blizzards advance north

Democrats question worker safety in Amazon warehouse rebuild

Nationwide, there were 33 separate tornado reports Thursday from the National Weather Service as of Thursday evening, with a handful of tornado warnings still in effect in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. However, the reports were not yet confirmed and some of them could later be classified as wind damage after assessments are done in coming days.

In Selma, a city etched in the history of the civil rights movement, a tornado cut a wide path through the downtown area, where brick buildings collapsed, oak trees were uprooted, cars were on their side and power lines were left dangling. Plumes of thick, black smoke rose over the city from a fire burning. It wasn’t immediately known whether the storm caused the blaze.

https://apnews.com/article/tornadoes-natural-disasters-alabama-montgomery-selma-37e05f4ae4bc39a61a50243c92b2b82f?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopN