Powerful storms stretching from the Gulf
Coast to the Great Lakes wrecked several Indiana towns and killed at
least 20 people Friday as the system tore roofs off schools and homes,
flattened a fire station, flipped over tractor-trailer trucks and
damaged a maximum security prison. It was the second deadly tornado
outbreak this week.
Authorities reported 14 deaths in southern
Indiana, where Marysville was leveled and nearby Henryville also
suffered extreme damage. There were five deaths in Kentucky and one in
Ohio.
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"On behalf of the Department of Homeland
Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), I would
like to express our deepest condolences to those who have been affected
by the tornadoes and severe weather that are currently moving through
the Midwest and South," Craig Fugate, FEMA administrator said.
"FEMA, through our regional offices, has
been in constant communications with state officials throughout the
impacted areas. In response to these latest storms, we have personnel
assembled and on alert, should the affected states request additional
assistance," he said.
"I commend local and state first responders
for their diligent and tireless efforts to protect lives and provide
immediate assistance in the aftermath of these storms. We strongly
encourage residents in impacted areas to listen carefully to
instructions from their local officials and take the recommended
protective measures to safeguard life and property while response
efforts continue."
Aerial footage from a TV news helicopter
flying over Henryville showed numerous wrecked houses, some with their
roofs torn off and many surrounded by debris. The video shot by WLKY in
Louisville, Ky., also shows a mangled school bus protruding from the
side of a one-story building and dozens of overturned semis strewn
around the smashed remains of a truck stop.
Andy Bell was guarding a demolished garage
until his friend could get to the business to retrieve some valuable
tools Friday night. He looked around at the devastation, pointing to
what were now empty lots between a Catholic church and a Marathon
station about a block away.
"There were houses from the Catholic church
on the corner all the way to the Marathon station. And now it's just a
pile of rubble, all the way up," he said. "It's just a great ..."
His voice trailed off, before he finished: "Wood sticks all the way up."
An Associated Press reporter in Henryville
said the high school was destroyed and the second floor had been ripped
off the middle school next door. Authorities said school was in session
when the tornado hit, but there were only minor injuries there.
Classroom chairs were scattered on the ground outside, trees were uprooted and cars had huge dents from baseball-sized hail. Throughout town, there were bent utility poles and piles of debris. Volunteers pushed shopping carts full of water and food up the street and handed it out to people.
Classroom chairs were scattered on the ground outside, trees were uprooted and cars had huge dents from baseball-sized hail. Throughout town, there were bent utility poles and piles of debris. Volunteers pushed shopping carts full of water and food up the street and handed it out to people.
Ruth Simpson of Salem came to the demolished
town right after the storm hit, looking for relatives that she hadn't
been able to find. "I can't find them," she said, starting to cry, and
then walked away.
The town was without power, and there was no
cell phone reception or service for land lines. Authorities planned to
search the rubble through the night for survivors.
By nightfall, the only visible lights in
town were vehicles inching through town. The rural town about 20 miles
north of Louisville is the home of Indiana's oldest state forest and the
birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Col. Harland Sanders.
Ernie Hall, 68, weathered the tornado inside
his tiny home near the high school. Hall says he saw the twister coming
down the road toward his house, whipping up debris in its path.
"I knew there was some bad weather out in
the Midwest that was coming this way, but you don't count on a tornado
hitting here that bad," he said.
He and his wife ran into an interior room
and used a mattress to block the door as the tornado struck. It
destroyed his car and blew out the picture window overlooking his porch.
"There was no mistaking what it was," he said.
"Once again Mother Nature has dealt harshly
with Indiana. Our every thought is with those we've lost and those who
have suffered," Indiana Gov. Daniels said in a statement Friday.
"We've learned so much and improved so much
in disaster preparedness, warning systems and responder communications
but still we are no match for Mother Nature at her worst. We're hopeful
that we know the full extent of the damage but it will be tomorrow
before we can give a final report with any confidence," he said.
The threat of tornadoes was expected to last
until late Friday for parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana and Ohio.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in
Oklahoma said the massive band of storms was putting 10 million people
in several states at high risk of dangerous weather.
"Maybe five times a year we issue what is
kind of the highest risk level for us at the Storm Prediction Center,"
forecaster Corey Mead said. "This is one of those days."
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport was closed temporarily because of debris on the runways, but one of three runways had reopened by late afternoon. A fire station was flattened and several barns were toppled in northern Kentucky across the Ohio River from the badly damaged Indiana towns.
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport was closed temporarily because of debris on the runways, but one of three runways had reopened by late afternoon. A fire station was flattened and several barns were toppled in northern Kentucky across the Ohio River from the badly damaged Indiana towns.
Terry Sebastian, a spokesman for Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, says five people were killed in two counties Friday.
The outbreak was also causing problems in
states to south, including Alabama and Tennessee where dozens of houses
were damaged. It comes two days after an earlier round of storms killed
13 people in the Midwest and South.
At least 20 homes were ripped off their
foundation and eight people were injured in the Chattanooga, Tenn., area
after strong winds and hail lashed the area. To the east in Cleveland,
Blaine Lawson and his wife Billie were watching the weather when the
power went out. Just as they began to seek shelter, strong winds ripped
the roof off their home. Neither was hurt.
"It just hit all at once," said Blaine
Lawson, 76. "Didn't have no warning really. The roof, insulation and
everything started coming down on us. It just happened so fast that I
didn't know what to do. I was going to head to the closet but there was
just no way. It just got us."
Thousands of schoolchildren in several
states were sent home as a precaution, and several Kentucky universities
were closed. The Huntsville, Ala., mayor said students in area schools
sheltered in hallways as severe weather passed in the morning.
"Most of the children were in schools so
they were in the hallways so it worked out very well," said Huntsville
Mayor Tommy Battle.
Five people were taken to area hospitals, and several houses were leveled.
An apparent tornado also damaged a state
maximum security prison about 10 miles from Huntsville, but none of the
facility's approximately 2,100 inmates escaped. Alabama Department of
Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said there were no reports of
injuries, but the roof was damaged on two large prison dormitories that
each hold about 250 men. Part of the perimeter fence was knocked down,
but the prison was secure.
"It was reported you could see the sky through the roof of one of them," Corbett said.
For residents and emergency officials across
the state, tornado precautions and cleanup are part of a sadly familiar
routine. A tornado outbreak last April killed about 250 people around
the state, with the worst damage in Tuscaloosa to the south.
The Storm Prediction Center's Mead said a
powerful storm system was interacting with humid, unstable air that was
streaming north from the Gulf of Mexico.
"The environment just becomes more unstable and provides the fuel for the thunderstorms," Mead said.
Schools sent students home early or canceled
classes entirely in states including Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi,
Kentucky and Indiana. In Alabama alone, more than 20 school systems
dismissed classes early Friday. The University of Kentucky, the
University of Louisville and several other colleges in the state also
canceled classes.
In one subdivision in in Athens, Ala.,
damage was visible on 10 homes. Homeowner Bill Adams watched as two men
ripped shingles off the roof of a house he rents out, and he fretted
about predictions that more storms would pass through.
"Hopefully they can at least get a tarp on it before it starts again," he said.
Not far away, the damage was much worse for
retired high school band director Stanley Nelson. Winds peeled off his
garage door and about a third of his roof, making rafters and boxes in
his attic visible from the street.
"It's like it just exploded," he said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/02/alabama-schools-closing-early-amid-weather-threat/#ixzz1o1VtTygi
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