Tag Archives: 23 dead

Trump sees ‘unbelievable’ tornado damage in Alabama visit

By Steve Holland

BEAUREGARD, Ala. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday visited communities in eastern Alabama devastated by tornadoes that tore through homes and businesses, killing 23 people.

Trump and his wife Melania Trump took a helicopter tour of the area before going to the homes of some victims in the tiny and especially hard-hit community of Beauregard, near the border with Georgia.

Their motorcade passed trees knocked down like kindling and homes scattered in pieces.

“This is unbelievable,” Trump said as he and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey surveyed the devastation. He said he had seen “unbelievable” destruction from the air, too.

Relatives of one victim, Marshall Lynn Grimes, showed the president the 59-year-old’s cherished motorcycle vest and Bible. Trump hugged members of the family.

The president and Melania Trump then visited a disaster relief center at the Providence Baptist Church in Opelika, the county seat, to meet with survivors, volunteers, and first responders.

Tables at the church were piled high with donated clothes, toiletries and other items. Twenty-three crosses, one for each of those killed, were set up on a lawn outside.

Trump met privately with more victims’ families inside the church. He said he talked with one woman who lost 10 people in the storm.

“I said how did it go, and she said I lost 10,” Trump said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He told dozens of community volunteers gathered in the church auditorium that the first responders were doing an “A-plus job.”

“We’re gonna take care,” Trump said. “We couldn’t get here fast enough … I wanted to come the day it happened.”

Sunday’s tornadoes were the deadliest to hit the state since 2013. All 23 victims, including four children and seven members of one family, were killed in or around Beauregard, in rural Lee County about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Auburn.

Dozens of people were injured and about 100 houses were destroyed by 170 mile-per-hour (264 km-per-hour) winds, officials said.

Mobile homes were tossed over and ripped open last weekend, their contents strewn across a landscape littered with debris and uprooted trees. In some places, shreds of houses had hung from the limbs of the few trees left standing.

The worst of the twisters, stirred up by a late-winter “supercell” thunderstorm, were ranked by forecasters at step four of the six-step Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado strength.

It was the greatest loss of life from a tornado since an EF-5 storm ripped through Moore, Oklahoma, in May 2013, killing 24 people and injuring 375 others.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Nick Zieminski)

In wake of tornadoes, missing Alabamans located; no additional deaths

The remains of a home sit destroyed after two deadly back-to-back tornadoes, in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S., March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) – Alabama officials said they have accounted for everyone who was missing after a burst of tornadoes, the deadliest to hit the state since 2013, tore through rural Lee County on Sunday, killing 23 people and injuring dozens more.

The 23 victims, including four children and seven people from one family, were all killed in or around the tiny community of Beauregard near the Georgia border, where the tornadoes uprooted trees and destroyed about 100 homes with 170 mile (264 km) per hour winds, officials said.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said on Wednesday that search and rescue teams had located all the residents who had been marked as missing since the storms.

“We are now confident we have accounted for all of the individuals that we had not accounted for” earlier, Jones told a news conference.

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to visit the storm-hit area on Friday.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Bernadette Baum)

‘Everybody was a friend:’ Alabama 10-year-old among tornado’s deadly toll

Fourth-grader Taylor Thornton, 10, who was one of several who died when powerful tornadoes struck Lee County, Alabama, on March 3, 2019, is seen in an undated family photo. Thornton family/Handout via REUTERS.

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – A weekend camping trip ended in tragedy for 10-year-old Taylor Thornton, identified on Monday as one of at least 23 people killed by the deadliest U.S. tornadoes in more than five years.

Taylor was rarely seen without a smile on her face, whether walking the halls as a fourth-grader at Lee-Scott Academy in Auburn, Alabama, or helping her parents take care of her infant brother, her uncle said in a phone interview.

“She never met a stranger – everybody was a friend,” James Thornton said. “She had a huge life at 10 years old. She had a footprint bigger than most people who are 70-, 80-, 90-years-old.”

At least two other children died when deadly tornadoes tore through Lee County on Sunday: relatives said in social media posts that six-year-old Armando Hernandez was killed and officials said a 9-year-old died at a hospital.

Debris lays outside a house devastated after two deadly back-to-back tornadoes, in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Debris lays outside a house devastated after two deadly back-to-back tornadoes, in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Taylor had spent the weekend camping with her best friend and her friend’s father before returning to their house in Lee County because of bad weather.

When Taylor did not return home as expected after church on Sunday, her father, David, drove to the friend’s house and found his daughter’s body amid the wreckage of the home, James Thornton said.

The friend was taken to a hospital with serious injuries but was expected to survive. The friend’s father died.

Taylor enrolled at Lee-Scott, a private Christian school, last fall and was a well-liked member of the class, according to the principal, Stan Cox.

“She made friends easily,” Cox said in a phone interview. “She made everybody around her better just by knowing her.”

Taylor loved the outdoors, riding horses, playing soccer and cheerleading, and had just won an “honorable mention” at Lee-Scott’s art show.

A family friend, Kaitlyn Willing, set up a fundraising webpage to help pay for her funeral.

“Every room she went into, she would light up the room with her smile,” Willing said in a phone interview. “She just had a love for life.”

Hernandez, who went by AJ, went missing during the tornadoes and was later found dead, according to posts from his relatives on Facebook.

A damaged Bombardier Challenger 350 jet is seen at the Eufaula Municipal Airport, after a string of tornadoes, in Eufaula, Alabama, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

A damaged Bombardier Challenger 350 jet is seen at the Eufaula Municipal Airport, after a string of tornadoes, in Eufaula, Alabama, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

His mother, Kayla Melton, posted a message on Sunday afternoon asking people to look for him. A relative, Tina Melton, wrote in the evening that the boy did not survive.

“I will miss your little smile and your sweet voice and face,” Tina Melton wrote. “He was always eager to give hugs and loved his family.”

Efforts to reach the family by phone were unsuccessful.

As of Monday afternoon, officials had identified all but six of the victims, county coroner Bill Harris told reporters. The names have not been formally released.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg; editing by Scott Malone, Steve Orlofsky and Sonya Hepinstall)

At least seven missing in Alabama after deadly weekend tornadoes

Debris lays outside a house devastated after two deadly back-to-back tornadoes, in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

By Gabriella Borter

(Reuters) – Alabama search and rescue teams on Tuesday were combing through the wreckage of houses flatted by weekend tornadoes, looking for seven or eight people who remained unaccounted for in the wake of the deadliest U.S. twister outbreak since 2013.

The tiny community of Beauregard, near the Alabama-Georgia border, was beginning to mourn the 23 people confirmed killed by the storms, which included four children and seven people from one family, officials said on Tuesday.

Members of the Auburn fire department are seen outside a devastated home after two deadly back-to-back tornadoes, in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Members of the Auburn fire department are seen outside a devastated home after two deadly back-to-back tornadoes, in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

The victims ranged in age from 6 to 93 years old, Bill Harris, coroner for storm-ravaged Lee County, told a morning news conference.

“Just keep these families in your prayers,” Harris said.

Most of the deceased were found in close proximity to their homes. The four children were age 6, 8, 9 and 10, officials said.

County Sheriff Jay Jones said on Tuesday that search crews had narrowed their scope down to “the most affected areas” after scouring much of the county on Monday. He said he hoped the search and rescue effort would become a recovery effort by the end of the day.

The tornadoes, stirred up by a late-winter “supercell” thunderstorm, toppled mobile homes and uprooted massive trees on Sunday with 170 mile-per-hour (274 km-per hour) winds. Forecasters ranked the worst of the outbreak at step four of the six-step Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado strength.

The Beauregard community in the twister’s path might have had as few as eight or nine minutes to seek shelter from the time the warning was issued, National Weather Service chief meteorologist Chris Darden said.

In addition to 23 confirmed deaths, more than 50 people were reported injured, authorities said, making this the deadliest tornado outbreak since a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, in May 2013, killing 24 people and injuring 375 others.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York; editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

Alabama tornadoes kill at least 23, including children

Debris and a damaged house seen following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S. in this March 3, 2019 still image obtained from social media video. SCOTT FILLMER /via REUTERS

By Deborah Bloom

BEAUREGARD, Ala. (Reuters) – Rescuers in Alabama on Monday dug through the remnants of homes and businesses destroyed by a pair of tornadoes that killed at last 23 people, including children, the deadliest such storms to strike the United States in almost six years.

A piece of metal is seen wrapped around a tree following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S. in this March 3, 2019 still image obtained from social media video on March 4, 2019. SCOTT FILLMER /via REUTERS

A piece of metal is seen wrapped around a tree following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S. in this March 3, 2019 still image obtained from social media video on March 4, 2019. SCOTT FILLMER /via REUTERS

The tornadoes ripped through the state’s Lee County on Sunday with winds of at least 150 miles per hour (240 kph), at the midpoint of the five-step Enhanced Fujita scale, which meteorologists use to measure tornado strength.

Mobile homes were tossed on their sides and ripped open, their contents strewn on the ground, live television images showed. Pieces of homes hung from trees that were not flattened by the storm.

More than 50 people were reported injured and the death toll is expected to rise, authorities said, which could make the storms deadlier than the tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013, killing 24 people.

“It looks almost as if someone took a giant knife and just scraped the ground. There are slabs where homes formerly stood, debris everywhere, trees are snapped,” Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told a morning news conference. “I’ve not seen this level of destruction ever in my experience in Lee County.”

One of the dead was a 6-year-old child, Jones said.

Two of the injured have sustained critical injuries and at least 20 people remain unaccounted for, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told CNN.

People clear fallen trees and debris on a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S. in this March 3, 2019 still image obtained from social media video. SCOTT FILLMER /via REUTERS

People clear fallen trees and debris on a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, U.S. in this March 3, 2019 still image obtained from social media video. SCOTT FILLMER /via REUTERS

On Twitter on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump urged affected residents of Alabama and other areas to be “careful and safe.”

“To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!” he tweeted.

Temperatures in the state fell to 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius) on Monday, leaving some who lost heat because of the storms to struggle with the cold.

(Additional reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Scott Malone and Jeffrey Benkoe)