The death toll from powerful storms and tornadoes that have devastated parts of the U.S. South, toppling trees, smashing buildings and tearing up trailers, rose to at least 16 early Saturday. Seven deaths were reported in Alabama, including a man killed when the storm tossed a mobile home nearly across a state highway.
In the deadliest storm of the season, three adult family members were killed around 11 p.m. Friday when a tornado ripped through homes in the Boone's Chapel community, north of the Alabama capital of Montgomery, said Autauga County Chief Deputy Sheriff Joe Sedinger.
Two side-by-side trailers were torn from their foundations and tossed into nearby woods. On Saturday morning, wooden steps and flowerbeds were all that remained where one mobile home had stood.
"The trailer was anchored down and the anchors are gone," Sedinger said. "But the steps are still there and the blooms are still on the flowers."
Seven people were hurt in the storm, including a firefighter injured during the emergency response, Sedinger said.
Another three deaths were reported early Saturday in Washington County in southern Alabama, said Yasamie Richardson, spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.
Don Faulkner, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile, estimated mobile homes make up around 40 per cent of the houses in the area of Washington County where the storm hit. (read more)
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