'Total chaos': Tornadoes kill three, injure dozens across South - USA TODAY

John Bacon and Doyle Rice USA TODAY

Published 8:23 AM EST Dec 17, 2019

Emergency personnel across parts of the Deep South were searching for survivors amid devastation Tuesday after dozens of suspected tornadoes raced through the region, killing at least three 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 power customers were dark at the height of Monday's storms.

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

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

“I don’t know what our records for the longest total in this area is," but that's got to be close, said Meteorologist Donald Jones.

In Alexandria, students at a religious school were evacuated to the church before the tornado ripped off the school’s roof, said Police Cpl. Wade Bourgeois.

“We are blessed,” Alexandria Mayor Jeffrey W. Hall said. “This could have been so much worse. But we have had no loss of life, and that’s the most important thing."

'We've got damage at lots of places:' 3 dead as tornadoes rip South

Several school systems in Alabama and Mississippi dismissed students early Tuesday and canceled afternoon events and activities as a precaution since storms were forecast to be moving through around the usual dismissal times.

Storms could affect the Southeast on Tuesday, especially portions of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, the Storm Prediction Center said.

Contributing: Jordan Culver, USA TODAY; The Associated Press.

Let's block ads! (Why?)