Judy Cook who lost her Masters Drive home is comforted by Chase Spradlin in Concord, Ala., Wednesday April 27, 2011. What appeared to be a tornado ripped through parts of Concord, Ala., outside late Wednesday. The damage in the area is extensive with homes and businesses destroyed and people injured. (AP Photo/Birmingham News, Jeff Roberts) click for larger view
Associated Press
via FoxNews.com
4/28/2011
PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. — Dozens of tornadoes spawned by a powerful storm system wiped out entire towns across a wide swath of the South, killing at least 194 people, and officials said Thursday they expect the death toll to rise.
Alabama’s state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 128 deaths, while there were 32 in Mississippi, 15 in Tennessee, 11 in Georgia and eight in Virginia.
The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it received 137 tornado reports around the regions into Wednesday night.
“We were in the bathroom holding on to each other and holding on to dear life,” said Samantha Nail, who lives in a blue-collar subdivision in the Birmingham suburb of Pleasant Grove where the storm slammed heavy pickup trucks into ditches and obliterated tidy brick houses, leaving behind a mess of mattresses, electronics and children’s toys scattered across a grassy plain where dozens used to live. “If it wasn’t for our concrete walls, our home would be gone like the rest of them.”
One of the hardest-hit areas was Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama. The city’s police and other emergency services were devastated, the mayor said, and at least 15 people were killed…
…The storm system spread destruction from Texas to New York, where dozens of roads were flooded or washed out.
The governors in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia each issued emergency declarations for parts of their states…
Read the complete article, and watch video, at FoxNews.com
How can we help our neighbors? ABC News has this information on their website:
American Red Cross: The Red Cross is providing relief to people across the hardest-hit states, providing shelter, and relief to survivors.
To make a donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief, visit its online donation page.
You can also call 1-800-RED-CROSS or text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
The Salvation Army: The Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services is responding to the deadly tornado activity throughout the South, mobilizing feeding units and providing support to the victims.
To donate to the Salvation Army’s tornado disaster response, visit www.salvationarmyusa.org, click on their donation page and designate “April 2011 Tornado Outbreak.”
You can call 1-800-SAL-ARMY and donors can text “GIVE” to 80888 to make a $10 donation. Checks can be made out to the Salvation Army Disaster Relief, P.O. Box 100339, Atlanta, Ga., 30384-0339.
