Terror in the south…. A spate of tornadoes ripping through the south has left a trail of 248 dead and so far uncalculated property destruction. The death toll is likely to rise.
Nowhere is the terrorific scene captured more graphically than in this YouTube video of part of a live TV broadcast from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The anchors show feed of a tornado cloud starting to form and warn viewers to get in a secure place. Then the cloud transforms — and hits. Watch this 8 minute video for yourself:
Even more terrifying video from Tuscaloosa:
4-27-11 Tornado Tuscaloosa, Al from Crimson Tide Productions on Vimeo.
And more raw footage:
As day broke Thursday, people throughout the South began to survey the wreckage left behind after dozens of tornadoes ripped through six states killing 248 people.
It was the deadliest outbreak of tornadoes in nearly 40 years. It leveled entire neighborhoods and left victims buried beneath mounds of rubble.
“It happened so fast it was unbelievable,” said Jerry Stewart, a 63-year-old retired firefighter who was picking through the remains of his son’s wrecked home in Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham, Ala. “They said the storm was in Tuscaloosa and it would be here in 15 minutes. And before I knew it, it was here.”
He and his wife, along with their daughter and two grandchildren, survived by hiding under their front porch. Friends down the street who did the same weren’t so lucky. Stewart said he pulled out the bodies of two neighbors whose home was ripped off its foundation.
Alabama’s state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 162 deaths, while there were 32 in Mississippi, 32 in Tennessee, 13 in Georgia, eight in Virginia and one in Kentucky.
In Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 that saw some of the worst damage, residents began to sift through what little remained of their homes.
The whine of chainsaws filled the background along with a state trooper helicopter that clattered overhead.
Some damage in the Tennessee Valley:
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama will visit to view the damage.
President Barack Obama will visit Alabama on Friday to view the damage from deadly tornadoes, the White House said.
Obama received an update on the disaster from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and other officials. Obama has already declared that an emergency exists in Alabama, the hardest-hit of Southern states ravaged by storms this week.
And the situation in Tuscaloosa at this hour?
The city’s death toll has now reached 36, and the number of Tuscaloosa residents injured as a result of Wednesday’s massive tornado that swept through West Alabama is now at more than 600.
Mayor Walt Maddox released these updated numbers during a 10:30 briefing on the aftermath of what some are calling the largest storm to hit this city.
“This is going to be a very long process,” Maddox said. “There will be areas of the city that will be hurting for a very long time.”
Of the dead, Maddox said 24 were from inside the city limit. The remaining 12 were killed in the police jurisdiction.
But none of the dead or injured were concentrated in any particular area. They all were scattered throughout the four-mile path that stretched from southwest Tuscaloosa to its northeast tip.
Also, Maddox cautioned that these casualty numbers were evolving. They likely will grow larger in the coming hours and days.
City emergency crews have shifted to a search-and-rescue mode as areas of the Tuscaloosa still remain under rubble. Parts of Rosedale Court, all of Wood Square Apartments and large swaths of Alberta may still have residents trapped under debris.
Another video from Tuscaloosa:
A video showing people seeing it coming in their house and going for shelter:
Some compiled clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke5kWx3OPcY&feature=related
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.