13 Dead as Tornadoes Rip through Alabama

[bnolan56]

Here it is: just shocking:

At Least 13 Dead, Including 8 at High School, as Tornados Rip Through Alabama

Thursday, March 01, 2007

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March 1: David Eastwood helps salvage belongings from the wreckage of his neighbor's home after a tornado struck near Blue Mound, Kan.
March 1: David Eastwood helps salvage belongings from the wreckage of his neighbor's home after a tornado struck near Blue Mound, Kan.

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ENTERPRISE, Ala. — DEVELOPING STORY:
Tornadoes and violent storms roared Thursday across Alabama, killing at least 13 people, including eight at Enterprise High School, where students were reported trapped under a collapsed roof.
State Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Yasamie Richardson said it wasn't clear whether the deaths at the high school were all students or a mix of students and teachers.
Enterprise Police Chief T.D. Jones said students remain trapped inside the school and workers are attempting to move a wall that is acting as a barrier between the workers and the students, according to a report in the Enterprise Ledger newspaper.
Gov. Bob Riley ordered more than 100 National Guard troops sent to Enterprise, with additional troops standing by.
There are also representatives from the Alabama Department of Emergency Management on the scene, along with a search and rescue team from nearby Dothan, Ala. Rescue squads from around the Wiregrass, Ala, have also responded.
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Lights and generators are being taken to the high school to continue the search and recovery effort into the evening.
A staging area has been set up in front of Enterprise City Hall. A heavy equipment staging area is set up at the Enterprise Big Lots on Boll Weevil Circle.
Martha Rodriquez, a 15-year-old sophomore at the high school, said she had left the school about five minutes before the storm hit. When she returned, she said that "a hall at the school collapsed, and there were kids inside."
Toni Kaminski, at Medical Center Enterprise, which also received storm damage, said about 45 patients were brought in, including some from the high school, and 17 were in the emergency department. But she said the injuries were mostly lacerations and stress-related.
The school "appears to have been right in the path," said Paul Duval, meteorologist with National Weather Service in Tallahassee, Fla., which monitors southeast Alabama.
"What we have learned so far is that there are injuries both in downtown Enterprise and the high school," he said.
Duval said more severe thunderstorms were expected to hit early Thursday night, some carrying winds of more than 60 miles per hour.
Elsewhere in the state, five people died at Miller's Ferry, about 60 miles west of Montgomery, Ala., when another apparent tornado tore into mobile homes, wrecking more than a dozen, according to House Speaker Seth Hammett, who spoke to reporters at the statehouse.
Click here for FOXNews.com's Natural Disaster center.
Alabama, Missouri and Kansas all reported damage and injuries from tornados, including another death in Alabama, and additional tornado watches remain in effect for South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Florida, according to the Weather Channel.
In southern Missouri, another tornado struck, killing a 7-year-old girl and damaging homes and businesses.
Howell County Sheriff Robbie Crites identified the young victim as Elizabeth Croney. Her mother, father and two brothers were injured when a tornado hit their mobile home in a rural wooded area near West Plains, Crites said.
In Caulfield, Rick Jarvis heard the storm ripping through his gas station around dawn. His home next door suffered just minor damage, but the twister shredded the business, ripping down its roof and back wall.
"It sounded like a herd of horses tearing up stuff. When I came out, it was done," said Jarvis, 48.
At least four mobile homes, two houses and two service stations in Caulfield were damaged when the twisters hit around 6:30 a.m., and a tornado also touched down near an elementary school in Caulfield. Two more tornadoes were also reported in the area, said Mike Wade, a dispatcher at the Howell County Sheriff's Office.
In Kansas' Linn County, along the Missouri state line, a tornado Wednesday night destroyed a power substation, and roofs and siding were torn from buildings, Linn County Emergency Management Director David Yates said. He said some minor injuries were reported.
The storm also ripped out poles and electric lines, but power was expected to be restored by the end of the day, said Paul Norris, operations manager for Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative.
The burst of tornadoes was part of a larger line of thunderstorm and snowstorms that stretched from Minnesota to Louisiana. In Nebraska, strong wind and heavy snow caused whiteout conditions in eastern Nebraska that forced the shutdown of 75 miles of Interstate 80.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,255698,00.html

[ryanworldleader]

yea I live in Atlanta and I am worried sick about these tornados.

[Nikhil]

Man, I live in Indiana, and whenever we have a severe storm, I get pretty woried about having a tornado. I've never actually had one where I live, but on mulitple occassions, a tornado has been headed in my direction, but dispersed before it reached me. I've been lucky as hell, hopefully it stays that way.

[hoverbike]

Man, I live in Indiana, and whenever we have a severe storm, I get pretty woried about having a tornado. I've never actually had one where I live, but on mulitple occassions, a tornado has been headed in my direction, but dispersed before it reached me. I've been lucky as hell, hopefully it stays that way.

Do you have one of those special NOAA weather radios that can warn you of any weather that requires a warning? Buy one and if a tornado comes in the middle of the night, the weather radio can go off with the message, sort of like a alarm to wake you up. This is a must item for people living in tornado ally.

On Wednesday, I was following this tornado outbreak and it was going to be a major one. There weren't as many tornadoes as I thought but the death and damage have been terrible so far. What a way to start March off with a high school getting hit by what I think was a weak F4 (EF-4) tornado. That's one to remember.

The same system that brought tornadoes also caused a mess for the Great Lakes to deal with...freezing rain for hours .