Monday , February 18, 2008
PRATTVILLE, Ala. —
Homeowners, utility crews and others worked Monday to clear away wreckage and restore services after the latest round of winter tornadoes that have slashed the Southeast.Alabama Gov. Bob Riley toured part of Prattville and said he was impressed by the community's response to the twister that struck the town.
"One of the great things about living in Alabama — and I say this after every major emergency we have — it truly is amazing to see what's happening out there with all the families in this state," Riley said.
At least 29 people were injured in Prattville on Sunday, and Mayor Jim Byard said about 200 homes and 50 to 100 businesses were damaged. No deaths were reported.
The tornado was part of a storm system that swept across the Southeast on Sunday, damaging homes elsewhere in Alabama and in parts of Georgia and the Florida Panhandle.
The violent weather continued into early Monday, when a tornado ripped apart a house in Hookerton, N.C., causing minor injuries to three people.
"It sounded like a train came through my window," said Shannon Edwards, 19, who was trapped under debris for about an hour at her family's Hookerton home. "My whole bed just flipped up. I didn't know where I was going to end up. I didn't know what was going on."
Scattered damage to buildings and trees was reported elsewhere in North Carolina.
The tornado that struck Prattville tore up a path about a quarter-mile wide, and was rated as an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale of tornado severity, meaning it had wind of 140 mph to 150 mph, said meteorologist Jim Stefkovich at the National Weather Service's Birmingham office.
Repair crews also were at work Monday in western and central Georgia, where the storms destroyed or damaged more than 50 homes Sunday, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Ten people were injured, two of them critically, the agency said.
The weather service said there was no official confirmation yet of tornadoes in Georgia, but it said some of the damage could have been caused by a tornado.
In the Florida Panhandle, a tornado destroyed four homes in Escambia County and damaged about 60 other buildings, county spokeswoman Sonya Daniel said. At least two buildings were damaged in neighboring Santa Rosa County.
A tornado outbreak earlier this month killed more than 50 people in several states, including Alabama.
While tornadoes were battering the Southeast on Sunday, parts of the Upper Midwest had to deal with blizzard conditions.
Dozens of schools in central and eastern Iowa were closed or had delayed openings Monday and travel was not recommended on some highways because Sunday's storm dumped as much as 6 inches of snow, accompanied by wind gusting to 50 mph.
According to the weather service, a total of 18.5 inches of snow has fallen so far this month at the Des Moines International Airport, compared to the average 5 inches. So far this season, Iowa has gotten 48 inches compared to the normal 26 inches.