Posted on 04/28/2011 12:00:03 AM PDT by dragnet2
Deadly tornadoes, thunderstorms tore through the south Wednesday killing more than 70 people in four states.
This is latest round of storms to hit the region over past several days.
At least 77 deaths are being blamed on the severe weather, according to the Associated Press.
The majority of those deaths were reported in Alabama with 61 people killed – including 15 in the city of Tuscaloosa alone.
Mayor Walter Maddox confirmed that 15 people died Wednesday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., a city of approximately 180,000 leveled by an estimated mile-wide tornado.
A tornado moves through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Wednesday, April 27, 2011. A wave of severe storms laced with tornadoes strafed the South on Wednesday, killing dozens of people around the region and splintering buildings across swaths of an Alabama university town.
"I'm in my car at corner on McFarland. Milo's Hamburgers isn't there anymore," Tuscaloosa resident Phil Owen told ABC News affiliate WBMA.
"We have way over 100 injuries throughout the city of Tuscaloosa," Mayor Maddox said Wednesday. "We have hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed and hundreds more damaged."
Maddox said the National Guard were being dispatched to devastated areas across the state the Associated Press reported.
President Obama declared a state of emergency for the search and rescue response in Alabama, and Gov. Robert Bentley told WBMA he expected him to declare another one to help pay for the cleanup.
In confirming the state of emergency, President Obama said federal officials had their eye on the storms and would offer help as needed.
"Michelle and I extend our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives because of the tornadoes that have swept through Alabama and the southeastern United States," he said in a written statement.
August said the damage and destruction from on Wednesday's severe weather has left some Alabama residents with no place to go.
"We are opening shelters throughout the state to make sure folks who have nowhere to go, tonight, will have somewhere to go, out of the weather," said August.
Fatalities in Georgia, Mississippi
Crystal Paulk-Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Georgia emergency management in Atlanta, said four people have been killed so far.
In addition, at least 11 were dead in Mississippi, ABC News confirmed.
at least one person killed in Tennessee Wednesday.
The weather system was expected to move into Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky overnight and into the Carolinas by Thursday morning.
Prayers for all the families in the tornado hit states.
It's pretty damn obvious you would be worse than useless in an emergency.
Fox news has had at least two interviews with people that survived in less than sturdy shelter, by hunkering down in an interior closet and in a bathtub. If caught in a very flimsy building, or outdoors or in a car, dive in a ditch, or prostrate in the lowest depression available.
Contrary to your statement, many people DO upgrade safety when rebuilding. I am familiar with a couple from Plainfield, IL whose house was destroyed or heavily damaged THREE times. I guarandamntee you they have an underground shelter.
No, Where are WE?!?! What is the best way to send help? I fear that going through Large organizations like the Red Cross, is more like going through bureaucracies. Is there a church there that is taking donations directly?
BUMP! eccentric posted - “”What is the best way to send help?””
Please do let us know when and how we can help. I am here in Georgia and if you just give us the word, we will do it.
May God bless.
Tatt
I just found this - http://blog.al.com/bargain-mom/2011/04/alabama_tornadoes_more_opportu.html
Until we hear something more, this might be a good starting place.
May God give us strength.
Tatt
US tornado deaths hit 321
THE death toll from a slew of tornadoes rose to 321 today, making the terrible storms the third-deadliest outbreak of twisters in US history and the worst in nearly 80 years.
How are you doing? Were you in the storm’s direct path? I can’t imagine how terrifying it must have been;I’ve never been in a tornado and I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to see an EF-5 tornado headed our way.I really feel for those people who lost everything.I hope everything is well with you.My heart truly goes out to you all.I saw on the news that TECO,or the Tampa Electric Company,went up to Alabama to help restore power.That’s quite a haul;I live one hour north of Tampa.Well,take care and G-d Bless.
The toll is at 340 now if not more. I’m near Cleveland TN and we still have friends that are unaccounted for. I work in Cleveland but live in Riceville. When I left work at 4:00 on Wednesday a funnel cloud chased me up I-75 and caught me one mile from my exit. I could see it coming from Chattanooga in my rear view mirror and even though I was running 80mph most of the way it still caught me. I heard later that the wind speed was 102mph. Traffic on the Interstate came to a dead stop but I continued up the shoulder to my exit and parked under the Interstate overpass. We have been to Cleveland to take our generator to family and the devestation is horrible.
We are still finding debris on our farm from as far away as Alabama. A friend of mine found mail from Tuscaloosa and we have found photos, insulation and styrofoam that appears to be from boats.
Funny, I tired to start a new thread with the latest death toll, and it was eliminate. You'd think they'd at least update the title..
BTW, I wish you the best of luck. Times aren’t hard enough, without utter disasters like this.
And I meant that all the theoretical knowledge is useless IF you live in a mobile home ,no basement, and the ditches and low spots are standing or running full of rainwater two feet deep.
More real preparation might be good,like requiring storm shelters in mobile home parks.
You don't know ANYTHING about my actions in an emergency,and I won't cite past acts since it OBVIOUS you wouldn't believe or care.
220+ tornadoes, 35 dead in my scarcely populated county far from Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa will/did get the news (and president's visit) but to call it the epicenter/worse is not true in my opinion. The center IMHO would be around Huntsville, with hundreds of miles in all directions destroyed.
BTW... 3 tornadoes hit at various times in Northeast Dekalb.
Yeah, I have friends in the Sand Mountain area that lost their house, and their neighbors. It’s a lot worse up this way than I had originally thought. Tuscaloosa made the news because the tornado hit a highly-populated area. Ringgold, GA was hammered, as well as the southeast portion of Hamilton County, TN (Chattanooga area) and up into Bradley county (Cleveland, TN).
Judging from the damage to the power system, Alabama got hammered REAL hard, but so did Mississippi.
Here’s a link to TVA’s news site - there’s a 6 minute video showing some of the damage to the transmission system around the Widows Creek plant, about 50 miles east of Huntsville. It takes a substantial amount of wind to take down those towers.
Click on the play button...
Thanks for the link too... mom worked there as a boilermaker welder for over 10 years. First woman boilermaker welder in TVA history.
More storm/tornado damage info...
A drive from Apison, TN (near Chattanooga) into north Georgia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql0FsH-SPDs&feature=related
Satellite view of Tuscaloosa, AL:
NOAA analysis for Georgia:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ffc/?n=20110427_svrstorms
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