Crews went door-to-door Wednesday searching debris for more victims of deadly
tornadoes that ripped the roof off a shopping mall, pummeled mobile homes and blew apart warehouses as they tore across five states.
At least 48 people were killed throughout the South.
The victims included 24 people in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and three in Alabama, emergency officials said.
Among those killed were Arkansas parents who died with their 11-year-old in Atkins, about 60 miles northwest of Little Rock.
Hundreds more were injured.
In addition to the three dead at Atkins, another Pope County resident was killed, according to the state Department of Emergency Management.
Three people were killed in Van Buren County, said a jailer at the sheriff's department.
Two deaths were reported in Conway and Izard counties and one each in Baxter and Stone counties.
A pumping station explosion in Tennessee that killed at least one person Tuesday could be connected to the severe weather.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency confirmed late Tuesday night that a fire was reported at a natural gas pumping station in Hartsville, Tenn., after a massive explosion, reported WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tenn. The station is about 40 miles northeast of Nashville.
The nearby Castalian Springs, Tenn., Post Office was destroyed, and there was one confirmed death, WSMV-TV in Nashville reported.
Witnesses called television station and said they could see the glow of the flames 60 miles away from the fire.
A Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman said the station could have been damaged by a line of severe storms that moved through Tennessee. The weather system also spawned tornadoes that killed several people in Tennessee on Tuesday.
Tennessee, Mississippi Hit Hard
At least six tornadoes touched down between Oxford, Miss., and Jackson, Tenn., said a National Weather Service spokesman.
Besides the confirmed pumping station explosion death and the confirmed dead in Tennessee, more than 60 people were injured in that state and Mississippi, officials said.
Among those killed were two who died in a home near Jackson, three people killed when a roof collapsed at the DSC Logistics warehouse in Memphis, Tenn., a man killed when his vehicle flipped in Fayette County and two others who died in Hardin County east of Memphis.
Severe storms damaged buildings at Union University in Jackson on Tuesday night, injuring 16 people, reported WSMV.
A school spokesman said eight students were reported trapped in a damaged dormitory at the university, but weren't seriously injured. The television station confirmed early Wednesday that all the students were able to get out of the dorm safely and suffered only minor injuries.
Union University president David Dockery said one-third of the campus was either damaged or destroyed. Dockery said the school would be closed until Feb. 13.
Officials in Hopkinsville, Tenn., reported that several homes were damaged or destroyed from strong storms pushing into the area. Power lines and trees were down across the area.
Hospital Treats Victims
An official at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson said at least 60 people were injured in a wave of tornadoes that hit Tennessee and northern Mississippi Tuesday night.
Jackson-Madison County General Hospital spokeswoman Jan Boud said the emergency room treated 47 injured people, including five with serious injuries. She said most of the injured have been released.
The Jackson Sun newspaper reported on its Web site Tuesday night that a Jackson nursing home was seriously damaged, but the 114 residents were evacuated with no injuries reported.
Governor Says 11 Dead In Arkansas
A couple and a child were killed after a tornado touched down near the center of Atkins, a community of 3,000 along the Arkansas River in the central part of the state, the Pope County Sheriff's Office said.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe's office later said at least 11 people were killed across the state, including in the communities of Clinton and Gassville.
Emergency crews went door-to-door in Atkins seeking other possible victims, the Pope County Sheriff's Office said. Power lines blocked traffic to the community along the Arkansas River in central Arkansas.
3 Die In Kentucky
An additional three people were reported dead in a storm outside Greenville in western Kentucky, the Kentucky State Police said.
Trooper Stuart Recke said the three were all adults and were killed Tuesday night at a mobile home park. Recke said he's not sure the circumstances surrounding the deaths or whether the three were together or in different areas of the park.
Recke said the storm also caused moderate to severe damage at another area mobile home park.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Video: 
No comments:
Post a Comment