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Homes, highways hit as deadly storms move east

Image: Tornado
Janette Bentley stands near an uprooted tree in front of her Tuscaloosa, Ala., home on Veterans Memorial Parkway on Friday after a tornado went through.Michelle Lepianka Carter / AP
/ Source: msnbc.com staff and news service reports

A storm system that killed nine people in Oklahoma and Arkansas moved Friday evening into Mississippi and Alabama, where at least one person was killed after tornadoes touched down in six counties.

Suspected tornadoes ripped across two highways — with one touching down near a college.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said Friday night that one person was killed in Marengo County in the west-central part of the state. No further details on the death or the injuries were immediately released.

In Clinton, Miss., WLBT TV reported that the highway was completely shut down and that two cars and a semi-trailer had flipped over. The cars were entangled in power lines.

Nearby mobile homes, a bank and a hotel were damaged.

Seven people were taken to hospitals, including an elderly woman with life-threatening injuries, an ambulance company spokesman said.

Image: Alvin Lenoir
Alvin Lenoir points to a pile of income tax forms under insulation and ceiling panels in his tornado demolished kitchen in Clinton, Miss., Friday, April 15, 2011. Lenoir had removed surrounding pine trees from his property to prevent tree damage during severe storms. However his neighbors trees were blown over his home and through the roof and sides, severely damaging much of his home. The state was hit by a line of severe storms that spawned at least one tornado causing extensive damage and multiple injuries. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)Rogelio V. Solis / AP

Damage was also reported in nearby Jackson.

In Tuscaloosa, Ala., a suspected twister touched down on state Highway 69 near Shelton State College, the Tuscaloosa News reported. Some 18,000 customers had lost power and initial reports included damages to a motel and bank.

By late Friday, tornadoes had also been reported in Mississippi and strong winds knocked down trees in Georgia.

In Alabama, the governor declared a state of emergency for all counties. In Mississippi, a state of emergency was declared for 14 counties.

Alabama was expecting storms to continue through the night. Some 30,000 NASCAR fans were camped out Friday at the Talladega Superspeedway for a race Sunday.

"This is causing us to do some extra planning," said Art Faulkner, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

The track on Friday was pounded by heavy rains and wind, and the area was twice under a tornado warning. But there were no reports of serious damage.

The storms led to the postponement of an ARCA race and cut short practice for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup event.

Talladega officials rescheduled the ARCA race for 8 a.m. CDT time Saturday, hoping to get it in before qualifying for Sunday's Aaron's 499.

It was the deadliest storm of the season so far. Much of the damage was attributed to straight-line winds — sudden, violent downbursts that struck with hurricane force in the middle of the night.

Forecasters warned of approaching danger as much as three days beforehand, but the winds up to 80 mph and repeated lightning strikes cut a path of destruction across a region so accustomed to violent weather that many people ignored the risk — or slept through it.

Overnight, tornadoes killed two people in Oklahoma, both in the small southeastern town of Tushka where the only school was leveled, authorities said.

7 die in ArkansasIn Arkansas, seven people were killed.

A six-year-old boy was crushed to death by a tree in the town of Bald Knob.

A father and an 18-month-old girl died in Garland County when a tree struck by lightning fell on their home, crushing the two as they lay in bed. As the sun rose Friday, one side of the mobile home was torn away, and the tree still rested on a mattress.

Two more people died in Pulaski County and St. Francis County.

In Little Rock, a tree fell on a home, killing an 8-year-old boy and his mother who had climbed into bed with him as a severe storm moved through overnight, Little Rock police spokesman Terry Hastings said.

The city was at a standstill Friday morning with uprooted trees, downed power lines and destroyed traffic signals.

"It looks like a war zone," said Little Rock resident Holly Dunlap, interviewed on Arkansasonline.com. The storm knocked down all but one of about a dozen trees in her yard. "It's crazy to see the aftermath of it all."

During rush hour, Little Rock police reported more than 50 streets blocked by trees, power lines and electrical poles.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said he had never seen the state suffer so many deaths from straight-line winds. Tornadoes and floods cause most of Arkansas storm-related fatalities.

"Just trees blowing on people's residences — I don't recall anything even approaching this," Beebe said.

Unlike tornadoes, which develop from columns of rotating air, straight-line winds erupt from a thunderstorm in unpredictable downdrafts, then spread across the landscape in all directions.

Deadly Oklahoma twisterIn Oklahoma, the system late Thursday produced a large tornado that cut through the tiny southeastern town of Tushka, killing two sisters in their 70s, Salvation Army Capt. Ric Swartz said.

The tornado also injured at least 25 people as it plowed through the town of 350 residents, said Gilbert Wilson, Atoka County's emergency management director. He said witnesses reported seeing two tornadoes that merged to form a single twister. The National Weather Service confirmed a single tornado hit the area.

Image: A tornado hit the town of Tushka, Oklahoma causing major damage to the small town of 350 people.
epa02689179 Denym Pingleton (L) carries her books out of the inside of what is left of the school with fellow students Kayla Wilhite (R) and Courtney Wilhite (C) after a large tornado hit the small town of 350 people killing one person in Tushka, Oklahoma, 15 April 2011. The storm moved across the midwest causing damage in multiple states and killing five people, two in the town of Tushka, Oklahoma. EPA/LARRY W. SMITHLarry W. Smith / EPA

Tushka Public School Principal Matt Simpson said the storm destroyed five school buildings and that the campus is littered with downed trees and bricks blown from the buildings. Students from kindergarten through 12th grade attend the school, which was empty when the storm hit.

The tornado forced many people to seek shelter with relatives, friends or churches. Semi-trailers and trees were scattered on the main highway, U.S. 69, and authorities closed off some roads because of downed power lines and trees.

"It felt like a bomb," said Jennifer Buffington, who fled to a storm cellar with her husband and their seven children when the tornado sirens sounded.

When the family emerged, they found the windows blown out of their house.

"Everything in my house looks like shambles," said Buffington.

The tornado carved a path of destruction seven miles long and half-a-mile wide, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Michelann Ooten told msnbc.com.

'Heartbroken'Easton Crow, a junior at the public school, said he was at a baseball game in nearby Hugo when the storm hit. He went by the school after returning home and saw the damage: The roof was gone, the top story of one of the school's buildings was torn off and textbooks were scattered everywhere.

"I'm heartbroken. This is where most of us grew up," Crow said. "I'm just in awe that in a few seconds memories that have been built were taken."

Principal Matt Simpson said the school won't be usable for the rest of school year and officials must figure out where students will attend class.

Jim Sarris returned to his home in Tushka on Friday morning to find the back of his house blown away and debris littering his property. He found his 1986 high school letter jacket a few hundred feet away.

"I had to crawl through (the house) to get a pair of pants."

An Atoka Trailer Manufacturing plant was destroyed by the storm. The owner, Ryan Eaves, said it would cost millions of dollars to rebuild the plant where some 60 employees assembled trailers that haul heavy equipment.

"Twenty-four hours ago this was an 80-thousand square foot heavy manufacturing facility, at the moment it's a pile of rubble," Eaves said. "This building was a shining bright spot for the community. To think it could be overtaken like this is overwhelming."

He said he would shift work to another factory three miles away.

At least a dozen homes in Atoka County were destroyed and a number of residents were unaccounted for, Terry Williams, dispatcher for the county sheriff's department, told The Weather Channel.

Some rescue crews were using chain saws to cut into obstructed homes to search for survivors, Williams said.

Paul Reano, CEO of Atoka County Medical Center, said 25 people were treated Thursday night for injuries related to the storm — ranging from cuts and scratches to more serious injuries. Reano did not have details on the more serious injuries.

Some people said they were grateful for what they had left after the destruction.

Image:
An vehicle sits in a tree in Tushka, Okla., Friday, April 15, 2011, following a tornado the night before. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)Sue Ogrocki / AP

Kimberly Gabriel said the windows were blown out of her home, glass was strewn all over and the fence to her home was knocked down in the tornado. But at least it was still standing.

"I consider that we're lucky, our house is here," Gabriel said. "Some people don't have that."

She and her 15-year-old daughter decided to spend the night in their SUV instead of going to a shelter, she said.

"I figure there are people who are without homes and they're going to be full," Gabriel said.

Tara Pittman was at a Wal-Mart buying food and wasn't aware of the storm until her husband called and told her to take cover. The couple found out later that their mobile home was heavily damaged and they couldn't stay there.

"I'm thankful because my family is OK; some people's aren't," Pittman said.