A sheriff says the death toll is now at 23 from a large tornado that devastated an Alabama community.
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told WRBL-TV that, “Unfortunately our toll, as far as fatalities, does stand at 23 at the current time,” adding that two people are in intensive care.
Jones told The Associated Press late Sunday evening that children are among the dead. He said it’s possible the death toll could continue to rise, but authorities paused search efforts overnight because conditions are too dangerous in the dark due to massive amounts of debris.
Jones said “the devastation is incredible” and that rescue teams will resume their work at first light Monday.
Rita Smith, a spokesperson with the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said Sunday that multiple homes were destroyed or damaged in Beauregard, a community about 95 kilometres east of Montgomery, the state capital.
Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama and Georgia on Sunday as a severe storm system churned across the Deep South.
The U.S. National Weather Service said a tornado with at least an F3 rating and a track at least 800 metres wide caused the deadly destruction.
Here’s a radar loop of the destructive tornado that ripped through southern Lee County earlier today. This was the 1st tornado to impact the county. #alwx pic.twitter.com/QfKIju6OuN
Meteorologist Chris Darden in Alabama travelled to the scene and confirmed at least F3 damage in extreme southern areas of Lee County, according to a special weather statement issued Sunday evening. The so-called Fujita scale measures wind speed and the corresponding destructive power of a tornado.
Although the statement did not give exact wind estimates, F3 storms typically are gauged at wind speeds of between 254 and 331 kilometres per hour.
The weather service also determined there was another storm track nearby in Lee County that also will be studied by a team of experts on Monday. It cautions that the information is preliminary and likely to be updated later.
from Update Trend News https://ift.tt/2tQSnl0
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