Tornados Kill Hundreds in Southeast

Posted by on Apr 29, 2011 in Rural Life | 0 comments

Tornados Kill Hundreds in Southeast

In the most devastating round of killer twisters in 37 years, at least 297 have been killed in six states. Damage and devastation in communities like Tuscaloosa, AL (the state’s 5th largest community) have left thousands homeless and thousands more without power. The city of Tuscaloosa resembles The Blitz, with a 4-mile path of sheer destruction as a result of an F-4 sized tornado that swept through the town on Wednesday.

“We have neighborhoods that have basically been removed from the map,” said Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox.

The damage is so extensive that cleanup efforts have been hampered. The city suffered major infrastructure issues and its Emergency Management Agency headquarters was razed.

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President Obama is scheduled to tour the devastation Friday. Late Thursday, Obama signed a disaster declaration for the state to provide federal aid to those who seek it.

At least eight people were killed in Georgia’s Catoosa County, including in Ringgold, where a suspected tornado flattened about a dozen buildings and trapped an unknown number of people.

Lisa Rice, owner of S&L Tans in nearby Trenton, survived by climbing into a tanning bed with her two daughters: Stormy, 19, and Sky, 21.

“We got in it and closed it on top of us,” Rice said. “Sky said, `We’re going to die.’ But, I said, `No, just pray. Just pray, just pray, just pray.’”