Two deadly tornadoes ravaged through Alabama on Sunday, killing at least 23 including three children and wounding dozens.
President Trump warned Alabamans to stay safe as he directed Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to give the “A Plus treatment” to those affected by the deadliest twister in America in over five years. “To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!” he tweeted.
Tornadoes kill 23 in Alabama
Houses ripped up at the foundations, scraps of metal wrapped around trees and mobile homes flipped upside down were just some of the traces of nature’s wrath after a series of deadly storms ripped through eastern Alabama on Sunday. The tornado left a path of destruction through Lee County which its sheriff described looking like “a giant knife….just scraped the ground.”
“There are slabs where homes formerly stood,” Jay Jones said at a press conference Monday. “Whole forested areas, trees are just snapped and lying on the ground,” adding, “We have not had anything of this nature before.”
The tornado tore up an area half a mile wide and about a mile long concentrated around the rural community of Beauregard, along Alabama Highway 51, the sheriff said. Across a span of a few hours Sunday afternoon, the storm leveled homes, knocked out power to many residences, toppled a cell phone tower and tossed debris as far as half a mile, with foliage and pieces of metal strewn about the streets. The area has many trailers, some of which were literally flipped upside down by the winds and their contents sent flying.
“The contents of one residence, we know for a fact, were located over 1,000 yards away,” he added.
Residents described the harrowing scene as the storm descended upon them with a “freight train noise.”
“I looked out the window and it was nothing but black, but you could hear that freight train noise,” resident Scott Fillmer said.
This metal wrapped around the tree is everywhere, in the distance is what used to be Capps Sausage. #tornado in Beauregard pic.twitter.com/xAnQwWqvKV
— Scott Fillmer (@scottfillmer) March 3, 2019
Trump directs FEMA efforts
Among the dead are at least three children aged 6, 8, and 9, the local coroner said. There were so many dead that the coroner had to request assistance from the state. At least 50 additional people suffered injuries. East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika attended to 40 patients and an untold number were brought to other hospitals.
Rescuers used thermal-scanning drones to find survivors Sunday but the search was paused when night fell because of the weather conditions. Search efforts resumed Monday morning, as Gov. Kay Ivey declared an emergency, and more than 100 rescuers combed through the area with canines looking for missing people. The morning search did not turn up any bodies, but Jones said they aren’t done looking.
Trump said in a tweet Monday that he directed FEMA to make Alabama a top priority.
“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. @GovernorKayIvey, one of the best in our Country, has been so informed. She is working closely with FEMA (and me!)”
The storms were classified as EF-4 intensity on the Enhanced Fujita scale by the National Weather Service, with winds of about 170 mph. Meteorologists observed the storm making its way across the area Sunday afternoon. It is the deadliest tornado event in over five years, since another twister killed 24 people in Oklahoma. Tornadoes also made landfall in communities in Georgia and Florida, with some property damage and injuries, but no deaths reported.
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