Drone footage shows aftermath of Alabama storms
Raw video: The storms have left 23 dead, three of which were reported to be children.
Search and rescue teams in Alabama are using dogs and heat-detecting drones to search for victims of the deadly tornado that tore through the southeastern part of the state, as new drone video and photos show the scale of the devastation.
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said Monday at least 23 people were killed and 90 were injured when the giant EF4 twister with 170 mph winds hit the rural community of Beauregard, and dozens are still missing.
The tornado impacted what the sheriff described as a rural area that had a lot of mobile homes and manufactured-type housing. The twister created a debris field that spread over hundreds of yards, according to Jones, with some debris being thrown a half-mile away.
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Authorities were expected to give an update on search and rescue efforts at 11 a.m. ET, but said earlier that crews were “basically using everything we can get our hands on” to comb through what was left of homes.
Debris litters a yard the day after a deadly tornado damaged a home in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
Jones said dogs were being brought in from across the state, in addition to dogs equipped with “infrared capability to detect heat signatures.”
Debris from a home litters a yard the day after a tornado blew it off its foundation, lower right, in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
Photos taken in the area on Monday show what was previously mobile homes tucked among tall pine trees now smashed into unrecognizable piles of rubble.
Friends in eastern Alabama are helping tornado survivors retrieve the scattered pieces of their lives after devastating winds destroyed their homes and killed at least 23 people.
(Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP)
Toys, clothes, insulation, water heaters and pieces of metal were scattered across the hillsides where once towering pines were snapped in half.
Tornado damage near Beauregard, Ala., on Monday March 4, 2019.
(Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP)
As residents began picking through the debris on Monday, some made gruesome discoveries.
Beauregard resident Carol Dean told the Associated Press that the body of her husband, 53-year-old David Wayne Dean, was discovered on the side of an embankment in the neighbor’s yard.
Carol Dean, right, cries while embraced by Megan Anderson and her 18-month-old daughter Madilyn, as Dean sifts through the debris of the home she shared with her husband, David Wayne Dean, who died when a tornado destroyed the house in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
“Our son found him. He was done and gone before we got to him,” an emotional Dean told the AP. “My life is gone. He was the reason I lived, the reason that I got up.”
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Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said at an afternoon news conference that three children, ages 6, 9 and 10 were among the dead in Sunday’s tornado.
Debris from a home litters a yard the day after a tornado blew it off its foundation, at right, in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
Harris said all but six of the people killed in the storm have been identified, and his office soon will begin contacting families about funeral homes and arrangements. He also warned that the overall death toll could still increase as searches continue.
Chris Darden, meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS’ Birmingham office said at a news conference it was the deadliest tornado in the United States since the twister that hit Moore, Oklahoma in 2013. The storm had a track of at least 24 miles.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said the tornado ravaged a “tight-knit” community of people.
“We lost children, mothers, fathers, neighbors, and friends,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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