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.
11 dead in Mississippi...
My mother spent a great deal of the day in the middle of the house...the bathroom. Bless her heart for real...
God love those who lost folks, and those who lost property.
If anybody has a link to disaster information there or a list of casualties, please let me know.
Yikes.
According to local reports - 7 dead at exit 28 (I-81) in SW Virginia.
Prayers.
I’m in Elmore county. No deaths here, mercifully.
It’s still dark. Upon sunup, I’ll go exploring and see how bad things were...
Just heard on FNC that the total dead is been increased to 173...
death toll now over 175
128 in Alabama alone. Sad day for us here in the Heart of Dixie.
FNC is reporting this tornado was on the ground for 220 Miles! Just Wow! Killing 128 people in Alabama and 32 in Mississippi. 178 killed in 5 states.
Lost power here in the morning, and then again in the evening when round 2 hit. It was out for almost 12 hours, came back on this morning. In a place where everything is electric (water heater, stove, air conditioning, etc) losing electricity knocks you back quite a ways. Canned veggies, fruit, and bread by candlelight last night.
If it had not come back today, things in the refrigerator would have spoiled, I think.
Makes you think about how life would change if the power was lost for a week, two weeks, a month, or a year due to a variety of scenarios.
Death toll in the Chattanooga Channel 3 viewing area is 27 so far. This includes Ringgold, GA and the Cleveland, TN areas.
AP is reporting death toll is now 193.
Several of these were very powerful, long-track tornadoes. Papers and other items identifiable as being from Tuscaloosa have been found up to 100 miles away, many items falling to the ground all along the path of the tornadoes.
Finally, a statement from Mr. President. Apparently, before this, not enough people had died and had their homes and businesses destroyed in the previous band of severe storms and tornadoes for him to make one.
I shouldn’t be so bitter about this president, should I?
Prayers for all! This is just heartbreaking. Death toll over 200 across the south according to reports.
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