A 14-year-old schoolboy was killed and several family members critically injured by a tornado that left an Alabama city looking “like a bomb went off.”
The unidentified ninth-grader was sheltering with his family in their basement when a tree flattened their home as the storm battered Fultondale at 10:30 p.m. Monday.
“They were doing what they were supposed to be doing,’’ Fultondale Police Chief D.P. Smith said.
Several other members of the victim’s family were critically injured, and one who escaped was treated for shock, the police chief said.
They were among at least 30 injured as the deadly twister carved a 10-mile path of destruction through the northern suburb of Birmingham.
At least six people were pulled from razed buildings Tuesday as search and rescue efforts continued in neighborhoods where it was difficult to tell where houses had stood.
Shocking video shared by the ABC 33/40 host Stoney Sharp early Tuesday shows a huge swath of buildings flattened, with an overturned car sticking up from its front in the middle of the debris.
Numerous businesses were also damaged, including a Hampton Inn that will likely have to be demolished, Fultondale Mayor Larry Holcomb told AL.com.
A Hampton Inn hotel is severely damaged after a tornado tore through Fultondale, Alabama, on January 25, 2021. Alicia Elliott via APFultondale High School was so heavily damaged it is unlikely to be able to open for classes for the rest of the year at best, Jefferson County Superintendent Dr. Walter Gonsoulin said.
“Every building on this campus had been touched,” Gonsoulin said.
Fultondale’s Fire Chief Justin McKenzie told ABC 33/40 that the town had been “hit bad, multiple injuries, multiple houses, trees, people trapped.” Rescuers remained searching through the rubble Tuesday.
Devastating tornado winds hit Alabama on January 25, 2021, leaving one person dead. Stephen Duke via Storyful“It looks like a bomb went off,” local pastor’s son Sam Moerbe, 18, told AL.com of the scenes of devastation.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey offered “prayers & deepest sympathies” early Tuesday and pledged the state’s “full support & resources.”
“The people of Fultondale took a hard hit last night — I’m grieved over the loss of life, injuries, homes & damaged businesses,” Ivey tweeted.
The National Weather Service warned that a tornado risk remained Tuesday for several areas across Alabama as well as neighboring Georgia.
