Krishun Moore’s house in Selma was torn up when a storm sent her and her mother to shelter in their bathroom, she said. Millions in California are reeling from weeks of flooding rain that has killed at least 18 people and left thousands without power.Ĭordel Tyus and Devo McGraw sit on roofing that blew off of an industrial building and wrapped around their house Thursday after a tornado ripped through Selma, Alabama. The storms marked the latest bout of severe weather to turn deadly in the US as experts point to the human-induced climate crisis as a cause for such extreme events. Thursday’s severe storms left about 40,000 homes and businesses still in the dark Friday morning across Georgia and Alabama, according to tracking site. A state employee also was killed by falling debris while responding to the storms, Gov. In central Georgia’s Butts County, a 5-year-old was killed when a tree fell on top of a car, the county coroner’s office said. “Roofs are just gone, trees look like toothpicks.” Kay Ivey said while visiting Selma Friday. The damage, “was far worse than anything I had envisioned,” Alabama Gov. A day earlier, a weather service meteorologist said the Selma tornado may have been on the ground for at least 50 miles. “While these areas of damage were caused by the same storm, it is not yet known if there was a continuous path of damage,” the weather service said. Wind intensity in neighboring Autauga County, meanwhile, was rated EF-3, meaning gusts of at least 136 mph – the weather service said. The Selma tornado was rated EF-2, the weather service said. said Friday.Īfter conducting an aerial tour of the damage, the mayor grew emotional as he talked about the communities that were hit – including the neighborhood he grew up in that was ravaged. While the damage was “tremendous,” no fatalities have been reported, Selma Mayor James Perkins Jr. We had to go run and jump in the closet.” “We could have been gone, y’all,” Brown said in a Facebook video. At a Selma tax office, Deborah Brown and others had to rush to safety after seeing what looked like a tornado rolling down the street, she said. In adjacent Dallas County, a huge tornado caused widespread destruction in Selma, home to about 17,000 people. The search and rescue phase of the response efforts will transition to a recovery phase Saturday, Autauga County Emergency Management Agency Director Ernie Baggett told CNN Friday afternoon. It wasn’t immediately clear whether that was reflected in the toll. “Our top priority today again continues to be life-saving in any of those areas where search and rescue is being conducted,” said Adams, who gave the county’s death toll as seven.Īuthorities there were “finding more bodies” Friday morning, Coroner Buster Barber said earlier. Severe storms and more than 2 dozen tornadoes hit Southeast Searches continued Friday in Autauga County as officials still weren’t sure everyone who may have lived in damaged homes was accounted for, state emergency management official Ricky Adams told CNN Friday. Tornadoes rated EF-2 pack winds of at least 111 mph while EF-3 tornadoes contain winds between 136 and 165 mph.Ī particularly damaging storm with at least one powerful tornado also tore through both Selma – an Alabama city known for its role in the civil rights movement – and a community in Autauga County, situated one county to the east, the National Weather Service said. EF-2 damage was found in three more nearby counties extending to the east, the weather service said, which added that the total number of tornadoes is still being determined. In those states and Kentucky, at least 37 preliminary tornado reports were recorded in storms that damaged power lines, severed tree limbs and sent debris flying into streets.ĭamage from what appeared to be two tornadoes – preliminarily rated an EF-3 and an EF-2 – were found in two parts of Spalding County, in central Georgia, according to the National Weather Service. Recovery and search efforts continued in the South on Friday, a day after severe storms and tornadoes raked the region, killing at least nine people, blowing roofs off homes and cutting power for thousands.Īt least seven people were killed in central Alabama’s Autauga County, with two others – including a 5-year-old boy – killed in Georgia, officials said.
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