A string of deadly tornadoes roared through Alabama on Thursday, toppling trees, demolishing homes and knocking out power to thousands, part of a broad swath of violent weather sweeping across the Deep South. At least five fatalities and an unknown number of injuries were reported.
The confirmed deaths were in Calhoun County, in the eastern part of the state, where one of multiple twisters sprang from a “super cell” of storms that later moved into Georgia, said John De Block, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham.
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Damage is seen to a home after a tornado passed through the Eagle Point subdivision, Thursday, March 25, 2021, near Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
Damage is seen to a home after a tornado passed through the Eagle Point subdivision, Thursday, March 25, 2021, near Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
Damage is seen to a home after a tornado passed through the Eagle Point subdivision, Thursday, March 25, 2021, near Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
A firefighter marks a house after a tornado touches down south of Birmingham, Ala., in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes Thursday, March 25, 2021. The National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings for Alabama and surrounding states. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
Residents cut away debris after a tornado touches down south of Birmingham, Ala. in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes, Thursday, March 25, 2021. Authorities reported major tornado damage Thursday south of Birmingham as strong storms moved through the state. The governor issued an emergency declaration as meteorologists warned that more twisters were likely on their way. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
Residents survey damage to homes after a tornado touched down south of Birmingham, Ala. in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes, Thursday, March 25, 2021. Authorities reported major tornado damage Thursday south of Birmingham as strong storms moved through the state. The governor issued an emergency declaration as meteorologists warned that more twisters were likely on their way. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
A firefighter marks a board after he cleared a home from a tornado that touched down south of Birmingham, Ala. in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes Thursday, March 25, 2021. Authorities reported major tornado damage Thursday south of Birmingham as strong storms moved through the state. The governor issued an emergency declaration as meteorologists warned that more twisters were likely on their way. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
A firefighter surveys damage to a house where the family was trapped, but were able to get out after a tornado touches down south of Birmingham, Ala. in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes Thursday, March 25, 2021. Authorities reported major tornado damage Thursday south of Birmingham as strong storms moved through the state. The governor issued an emergency declaration as meteorologists warned that more twisters were likely on their way. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
A firefighters survey damage to a house where the family was trapped, but were able to get out after a tornado touches down south of Birmingham, Ala., in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes Thursday, March 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
A firefighter surveys damage after a tornado touches down south of Birmingham, Ala., in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes Thursday, March 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
Residents work to remove fallen trees blocking roads for rescue crews to get past after a tornado touches down south of Birmingham, Ala. in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes Thursday, March 25, 2021.. Authorities reported major tornado damage Thursday south of Birmingham as strong storms moved through the state. The governor issued an emergency declaration as meteorologists warned that more twisters were likely on their way. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
A house is totally destroyed after a tornado touches down south of Birmingham, Ala. in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes, Thursday, March 25, 2021. Authorities reported major tornado damage Thursday south of Birmingham as strong storms moved through the state. The governor issued an emergency declaration as meteorologists warned that more twisters were likely on their way. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
A firefighter works with residents to remove fallen trees blocking roads for rescue crews to get past after a tornado touched down south of Birmingham, Ala. in the Eagle Point community damaging multiple homes., Thursday, March 25, 2021. Authorities reported major tornado damage Thursday south of Birmingham as strong storms moved through the state. The governor issued an emergency declaration as meteorologists warned that more twisters were likely on their way. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) -
Police respond to a downed tree across 1st Ave W on a day of extended severe weather, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Helena, Ala. The National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings in Alabama and surrounding states where forecasters said conditions were ripe for “long-track strong tornadoes.” Thousands were without electricity after strong winds knocked down power lines. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt) -
Workers board up damage to BedZZZExpress on SR 31 after a tornado hit on a day of extended severe weather, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Pelham, Ala. The National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings in Alabama and surrounding states where forecasters said conditions were ripe for “long-track strong tornadoes.” Thousands were without electricity after strong winds knocked down power lines. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt) -
Trees sit uprooted along SR 31 after a tornado came through on a day of extended severe weather, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Pelham, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt) -
Workers at Cahaba Tractor work to protect the damaged roof of the business after being hit by a tornado on a day of extended severe weather, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Pelham, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt) -
4 Wheel Parts on SR 31 is littered with debris after a direct hit from a tornado on a day of extended severe weather, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Pelham, Ala. People inside were unharmed. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt) -
Trees sit uprooted along SR 31 after a tornado came though on a day of extended severe weather, Thursday, March 25, 2021, in Pelham, Ala. The National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings in Alabama and surrounding states where forecasters said conditions were ripe for “long-track strong tornadoes.” Thousands were without electricity after strong winds knocked down power lines. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
Pat Lindsey, a resident of the county's hard-hit town of Ohatchee, told The Associated Press that a neighbor of his was killed when a twister destroyed his mobile home. “He was good as gold,” Lindsey said.
Farther west, vast areas of Shelby County near Birmingham were badly damaged. In the city of Pelham, James Dunaway said he initially ignored the tornado warning when it came over his phone. But it wasn’t long before he could hear the twister approaching, so he left the upstairs bedroom where he had been watching television and entered a hallway — just before the storm blew off the roof and sides of his house, completely exposing the bedroom. All three of his vehicles were undriveable.
“I’m very lucky to be alive,” the 75-year-old Vietnam War veteran told Al.com.
Pelham authorities posted video of large trees blocking roads and utility poles leaning menacingly over debris-littered streets. Firefighters outside a flattened home in the Eagle Point subdivision, also in Shelby County, said the family that lived there made it out alive before they arrived. Nearby homes were roofless or missing their second stories.
Shelby County Sheriff John Samaniego told the AP that some houses in the county “have been completely destroyed.”
Search and rescue efforts were complicated by strong weather that continued to rake across the region. Radar “debris signatures” showed a tornado that formed in southwest Alabama traveled roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) and stayed on the ground for about an hour and 20 minutes, De Block said. He said on-sight investigations would determine the strength of the storms, but based on the debris signatures, “we’re pretty confident we will find at least seven tornadoes” passed through the state on Thursday.
The twisters ripped through towns from west to east. In the western city of Centreville, south of Tuscaloosa, Cindy Smitherman and her family and neighbors huddled in their underground storm pit as the twister passed over their home.
A tree fell on the shelter door, trapping the eight of them inside for about 20 minutes until someone came with a chain saw to remove the tree, said Smitherman, 62. The twister downed trees, overturned cars and destroyed a workshop on the property.
“I’m just glad we're alive," she said. “Praise the Lord.”
Centreville Mayor Mike Oakley told ABC 33/40 news that a local airport was hit hard. "We have airplanes torn apart like toys. We’ve got homes along here that are totally destroyed, trees down, power lines down. It’s pretty devastating," Oakley said.
More than 35,000 customers were without power in Alabama.
First lady Jill Biden postponed a trip to Birmingham and Jasper, Alabama, that she had planned for Friday because of the severe weather, her office said in a news release.
While Alabama was bearing the worst of Thursday's weather, forecasters warned of dangerous thunderstorms, flash floods and possible twisters from eastern Mississippi into western Georgia, and northward into Tennessee and Kentucky. Also, flash flood warnings and watches extended to the western Carolinas.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued an emergency declaration for 46 counties as the severe weather approached, and officials opened shelters in and around Birmingham.
Flash floods were a problem in parts of Alabama at times. State troopers closed all lanes of a section of Interstate 65 near Cullman after floodwaters covered the roadway. The highway was reopened later in the day.
Mississippi had a storm-related death on Wednesday. Ester Jarrell, 62, died when a large tree toppled over onto her mobile home after heavy rain soaked the ground, a Wilkinson County official told The Associated Press.
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