Severe weather plagues South
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A tornado touched down in north-central Alabama, including part of Birmingham, in the latest wave of severe weather that’s hammered the South during Christmas week.
The funnel was spotted by witnesses outside the city about 5 p.m. Friday. An hour later the National Weather Service confirmed that first responders were on the scene in a working-class neighborhood less than 10 miles from downtown Birmingham.
Lt. Sean Edwards, a Birmingham police spokesman, said trees were down and people were trapped inside damaged houses, adding that several people were taken to hospitals for treatment of minor injuries, but further details were not available.
Elsewhere in the region, where the weather had calmed, dozens of people faced Christmas having lost their homes and possessions. But many said they were thankful to see another Christmas.
Tony Goodwin ducked into a storm shelter with seven others as a storm pounded Tennessee and other states in the southeastern U.S. He emerged to find his house in Linden had been knocked off its foundation and hurled down a hill by high winds.
Goodwin’s neighbors weren’t so fortunate. Two people in one home were killed.
“It makes you thankful to be alive with your family,” he said.
Unseasonably warm weather helped spawn torrential rain and deadly tornadoes that by Friday had left at least 15 people dead and dozens of families homeless.
On Friday, parts of Mississippi remained under a flood warning. Weather forecasters from the National Weather Service warned that a strong storm crossing the central part of the state could produce hail and winds of more than 40 mph.
But that didn’t stop some from spending their Christmas giving rather than receiving.
Nicholas Garbacz, disaster program manager for the American Red Cross of North Mississippi, said members of the Marine Corps brought donated toys to a center in Holly Springs for children whose families were hit hard by the storms. Two of the seven people killed in Mississippi were from the Holly Springs area.
Dozens of children and their families showed up Friday morning to pick up a toy or other items they might need to recover from the storm, Garbacz said.
More severe weather was also in store for parts of Georgia and Tennessee that were again being pounded with rain. Residents were warned to brace for flash flooding and possible tornadoes.
Among the dead were eight people from Mississippi, including a 7-year-old boy who perished while riding in a car that was swept up and tossed by storm winds.
Six people were killed in Tennessee, including three who were found in a car submerged in a creek, according to the Columbia Police Department.
One person died in Arkansas, and dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed.
