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Strong storms swept the south Sunday after the outbreak of alleged tornadoes and floods that killed at least eight people, injured dozens of people and destroyed much of the city of Texas. Three children were among the dead.
Nearly 90,000 customers were without electricity in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Georgia until Sunday afternoon, according to www.poweroutage.us, while the weather had left traces of destruction.
Two children were killed in an alleyway in East Texas when a pine tree fell on the car in which they stood Saturday, near Pollok, about 241 km southeast of Dallas.
The "tree" has flattened the car like a pancake, "said Captain Alton Lenderman of the Angelina County Sheriff's Office. The children, aged 8 and 3, died on the scene, while both parents, who were sitting in front, escaped injury, he said.
At least one person was killed and about two dozen others were injured after an alleged tornado struck the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site, in East Texas, at a Native American cultural event in Alto, about 209 km southeast of Dallas. Justice Chris Davis of Cherokee County stated that the reported death involved a woman who died as a result of her serious injuries.
In nearby Houston County, the sheriff's office said one person had been killed in Weches, 6 km southwest of Caddo Mound.
The damage was widespread in Alto, a city of about 1,200, and the school district canceled classes until its buildings could be considered safe.
A tornado destroyed much of south Franklin, Texas, knocking down mobile homes and damaging other homes, said Sheriff Gerald Yezak of Robertson County. Franklin is about 200 km south of Dallas.
The meteorological service said preliminary information showed that an EF-3 tornado had been shot down with winds of 140 mph (225.3 km / h).
He destroyed 55 houses, a church, four businesses, a duplex and part of the building of the local housing authority, authorities said. Two people were hospitalized for life-threatening injuries, while others were treated on the spot, Yezak said. Some people had to be removed from the damaged homes.
Heavy rains and storms swept the Mississippi into Saturday night as storms moved east.
Roy Ratliff, 95, died after the fall of a tree on his trailer in northeastern Mississippi, said Monroe County Road Director, Sonny Clay, at a conference release, adding that a tornado had struck. Nineteen residents were taken to hospitals, two of them in critical condition. A tornado was reported in the area 225 km southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, at the time.
In Hamilton, Mississippi, Robert Scott, 72, said he was sleeping in his reclining chair Saturday night when he woke up and that he found himself in his garden after a tornado ripped through most of his home.
His 71-year-old wife, Linda, was in another part of the house and also survived, he said. They found themselves crawling in the remains of the house where they had lived since 1972.
"We live and God blessed us," said Sunday Scott, retired director of a meat department at the grocery store, while his neighbors had helped him recover his property.
National Meteorological Service meteorologist John Moore said a possible tornado would have landed in the Vicksburg, Mississippi area. No injuries have been reported, but officials have reported damage to several companies and vehicles.
The storm damaged the roof of a hotel in New Albany, Mississippi, and the 21,000 students of the Mississippi State University, huddled in basements and hallways, while that a tornado was approaching the Starkville campus.
The university spokesman, Sid Salter, said that debris, possibly washed away by the tornado, had been found on campus, but that no injuries had been reported nor any building damaged. Trees were knocked down and minor damage was reported in residential areas east of the campus.
The large storm system also caused flash floods in Louisiana, where two deaths were reported.
According to authorities, 13-year-old Sebastian Omar Martinez drowned in a drainage canal after a sudden flood that hit Bawcomville, near Monroe, said Glenn Springfield MP of the Sheriff's Department of Ouachita Parish . Separately, one person died when a car was submerged by floodwaters in Calhoun, also near Monroe.
As the storm moved into Alabama, a possible tornado cut off power and damaged mobile homes in Troy, about 80 km south of Montgomery.
Near the suburbs of Birmingham, Hueytown, a county employee died after being hit by a vehicle while he was helping rid the trees about 2:15 am Sunday, said Captain David Agee of the County Sheriff's Office from Jefferson. The man, whose name was not revealed immediately, died after being taken to a hospital.
Predictions of extreme weather conditions forced Masters of Augusta, Georgia, to begin the final round of the tournament on Sunday and end in the middle of the afternoon before it started to rain.
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