A violent storm swept across the US state of Alabama. Up to 50 homes were destroyed by tornadoes.
A massive storm system in the US state of Alabama has killed at least six people. That’s the number of confirmed deaths so far, Ernie Baggett, director of emergency management for Autauga County, told the AP late Thursday. All of these cases involve Old Kingston Township. Local coroner Buster Barber had already confirmed several deaths.
According to official estimates, between 40 and 50 homes in the county were destroyed by the storms, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, Baggett said. Rescuers were focused on sawing down fallen trees to check for people who might be injured, he explained.
Roofs were ripped off houses
In the town of Selma, a civil rights memorial some 70 kilometers away, walls caved in under the violent pressure of a tornado, roofs were torn off houses and trees uprooted from the ground. The stone houses were not spared either, the cars were thrown to the side, the traffic lights strewn about the center of the city. Dense clouds of black smoke rose from a fire in the city.
Mayor James Perkins initially had no reports of deaths in Selma. “People were injured, but no deaths,” he said. Many power lines were downed by the storm and it was dangerous on the streets. A citywide curfew will be implemented, he said. The National Weather Service spoke of a large and extremely dangerous tornado that passed through Selma.
As of Thursday night, the US Weather Service had received 33 individual reports of suspected tornadoes that had yet to be confirmed. Tornado warnings were still in effect in some US states – Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina.
Rfi navigation account, time 20 minutes 01/13/2023, 06:41| Act: 01/13/2023, 09:53