At least nine people are dead — including a 5-year-old boy — after tornadoes ripped through parts of the southeast US on Thursday.
The 5-year-old boy was killed when a tree fell on a vehicle in Butts County, central Georgia, FOX5 Atlanta’s Eric Perry reported Thursday night. The adult in the car was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Elsewhere, a state Department of Transportation worker was killed while responding to storm damage, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on Friday. He gave no further details.
The remaining seven fatalities occurred in Autauga County in central Alabama.
On Friday morning, the National Weather Service was sending teams to assess damage in at least 14 counties, AL.com reported.
Devastation in the aftermath of severe weather in Greensboro, Alabama. APThe bulk of the devastation is from what the NWS described as the “large and extremely dangerous tornado” that tore through Selma, a historic city of 18,000 residents in Dallas County.
A video of the city’s downtown shared by reporter Blayne Alexander shows several structures left without roofs, while others appear to be almost completely razed.
Meanwhile, aerial footage of a residential neighborhood captured what appeared to be a house that was uprooted by the wind before landing squarely on top of another home.
The roof of a local business is strewn about after a tornado passed through Selma, Alabama. AP
Mel Gilmer surveys the damage to his business after a tornado passed through downtown Selma. APIt is unclear how many people were injured in Selma and the surrounding areas.
“People have been injured, but no fatalities,” Selma Mayor James Perkins said Thursday.
“We have a lot of downed power lines. There is a lot of danger on the streets.”
Ernie Baggett, Autauga County’s emergency management director, said he saw at least 40 homes destroyed in the aftermath of the storm.
“They weren’t just blown over. They were blown a distance,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Griffin, south of Atlanta, about 20 mourners at Peterson’s Funeral Home were forced to take cover in a restroom and an office when the twister touched down nearby.
A tornado heavily damaged and destroyed homes on Oak Village Road near Akron, Alabama. USA Today Network/Sipa USA“When we came out, we were in total shock,” Sha-Meeka Peterson-Smith, the funeral home’s chief operational officer, said of the damage. An uprooted tree crashed through the front of the building, destroying a viewing room, the front office and the lounge.
“We heard everything, but didn’t know how bad it actually was.”
The terrifying tornadoes are just the latest in an ongoing spate of severe weather across the US, as parts of California continue to battle severe flooding and heavy rains.
A damaged structure and debris in the aftermath of the tornado in Selma, Alabama. APAmong the fatalities in the Golden State is a 5-year-old boy, Kyle Doan, who was swept away by floodwaters after telling his mother to “be calm.”
“Yesterday I got to the point where I think I ran out of tears,” his mother, Lindsy Doan, said this week.
With Post wires
