At least 22 people in Alabama were killed after tornadoes touched down in the Southeast on Sunday, leaving a trail of devastation, an official said.
At least 22 people in Alabama were killed after tornadoes touched down in the Southeast on Sunday, leaving a trail of devastation, an official said.
The tornadoes were part of a series of storms that moved east through Alabama, Georgia and Florida. They uprooted trees and blasted through homes, video footage and photographs posted on Twitter showed.
In Lee County, Alabama, where some of the worst damage was reported, more than 150 people were conducting search-and-rescue operations near the communities of Smiths Station and Beauregard, which is about 60 miles east of Montgomery, said Rita Smith, a spokeswoman for the county’s emergency management agency.
Sheriff Jay Jones of Lee County said in an interview with CNN that 22 people were killed.
Lee County’s state mortuary response team had been activated, a spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency said.
The team will help recover and identify human remains at the disaster site, especially in areas where the local coroner was lacking resources, said Roy A. Goodson, president of the Alabama Funeral Directors and Morticians Association.
The East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Alabama, had received more than 40 patients and it expected more, John Atkinson, a spokesman for the center, said. He said the conditions of the patients varied.
Chief Byron Prather of the Opelika Fire Department told the television station WSFA 12 that several mobile homes and houses were destroyed in Lee County.
“There’s debris laying everywhere,” he said. “There was a mobile home frame in the middle of the road at one time. There’s personal belongings in the trees. There’s insulation, there’s building material in the trees.”
Meredith Wyatt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Ala., said the strong line of storms moved quickly across the area on Sunday afternoon.
She said it was unclear how many tornadoes touched down but said the service issued at least six warnings on Sunday afternoon.
The service will send teams on Monday to survey the damage to determine the path of the tornadoes, their intensity and how long they stayed on the ground.
Nearly eight years after a tornado outbreak that devastated major cities and small towns alike, Alabama remains wary of severe weather and the menace of tornadoes.
After the 2011 outbreak, which spawned more than 60 tornadoes in Alabama and led to more than 230 fatalities in the state, some communities ordered upgrades to storm shelters, and residents became extraordinarily sensitive about even the threat of poor weather.
The tornadoes were part of a series of storms that moved east through Alabama, Georgia and Florida. They uprooted trees and blasted through homes, video footage and photographs posted on Twitter showed.
In Lee County, Alabama, where some of the worst damage was reported, more than 150 people were conducting search-and-rescue operations near the communities of Smiths Station and Beauregard, which is about 60 miles east of Montgomery, said Rita Smith, a spokeswoman for the county’s emergency management agency.
Sheriff Jay Jones of Lee County said in an interview with CNN that 22 people were killed.
Lee County’s state mortuary response team had been activated, a spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency said.
The team will help recover and identify human remains at the disaster site, especially in areas where the local coroner was lacking resources, said Roy A. Goodson, president of the Alabama Funeral Directors and Morticians Association.
The East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Alabama, had received more than 40 patients and it expected more, John Atkinson, a spokesman for the center, said. He said the conditions of the patients varied.
Chief Byron Prather of the Opelika Fire Department told the television station WSFA 12 that several mobile homes and houses were destroyed in Lee County.
“There’s debris laying everywhere,” he said. “There was a mobile home frame in the middle of the road at one time. There’s personal belongings in the trees. There’s insulation, there’s building material in the trees.”
Meredith Wyatt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Ala., said the strong line of storms moved quickly across the area on Sunday afternoon.
She said it was unclear how many tornadoes touched down but said the service issued at least six warnings on Sunday afternoon.
The service will send teams on Monday to survey the damage to determine the path of the tornadoes, their intensity and how long they stayed on the ground.
Nearly eight years after a tornado outbreak that devastated major cities and small towns alike, Alabama remains wary of severe weather and the menace of tornadoes.
After the 2011 outbreak, which spawned more than 60 tornadoes in Alabama and led to more than 230 fatalities in the state, some communities ordered upgrades to storm shelters, and residents became extraordinarily sensitive about even the threat of poor weather.