‘Total chaos’: Tornadoes, storms kill four, injure dozens across South – USA TODAY

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Emergency personnel across parts of the Deep South were searching for survivors Tuesday after storms and dozens of suspected tornadoes raced through the region, killing at least four people, tearing through homes and businesses and toppling trees and power lines.

At least a dozen people were injured, and damage was reported in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Tens of thousands of customers were without power at the height of Monday’s storms.

One person died in a flood in Greenup County, Kentucky, early Tuesday.

A woman was killed in Louisiana. A couple died in Alabama, where the injured included a 7-year-old child rushed to a Birmingham, Alabama, hospital.

“It was total chaos,“ Lawrence County, Alabama, Coroner Scott Norwood said of the destruction. “We had to make due the best we could.”

The National Weather Service was also sending survey teams to assess damage in Sumter, Marengo, Hale, Bibb, Shelby and Chilton counties.

In all, there were 27 reports of tornadoes across the region on Monday, the Storm Prediction Center said.

Firefighter Ryan Gilley, left, helps evacuate a mobile home with Decatur Fire & Rescue members after a tree fell on the home in Decatur, Ala., on Dec. 16, 2019.

In Louisiana, Vernon Parish Sheriff Sam Craft said Betty Patin, 59, was killed when her mobile home was destroyed by an apparent tornado. During the worst of the storm, the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center warned that a “strong to potentially intense tornado with potential peak winds of 110 to 155 mph is likely ongoing” in the county.

The tornado was on the ground for 63 miles, according to the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/17/tornado-storm-kills-3-and-bring-devastation-alabama-louisiana/2672780001/

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