03 April 2023 , 15:13
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A tornado watch has been issued for large parts of Alabama, Georgia and Florida just days after 32 people were killed by a series of devastating tornadoes across the South and Midwest United States.
Weather forecasters warned of "damaging winds, large hail, & a few tornadoes."
The area covered by the warning covers southeast Alabama, southwest Georgia, & the Florida Panhandle.
Over the weekend tornadoes struck in eight states killing 32 across Tennessee, Arkansas, Indiana, and Illinois.
The storms collapsed the roof of a packed concert venue in Illinois killing one.
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The number of deaths from the storms over the weekend is expected to grow.
(NWS Storm Prediction Center)“While we are still assessing the full extent of the damage, we know families across America are mourning the loss of loved ones, desperately waiting for news of others fighting for their lives, and sorting through the rubble of their homes and businesses,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Arkansas, where at least five people were killed, declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.
Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in 11 states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees and laid waste to neighbourhoods.
The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday that a tornado was responsible for damage to several homes near Bridgeville, Delaware. One person was found dead inside a house heavily damaged by the storm Saturday night, Delaware State Police reported.
(Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)The US is hit by more tornadoes than any country in the world with around a 1,000 reported every year since 1990.
It may take days to confirm all the recent tornadoes. The dead included at least nine in one Tennessee county, five in Indiana and four in Illinois.
Other deaths from the storms that hit Friday night into Saturday were reported in Alabama and Mississippi.
Rachel Milam lived in the basement with her 6-year-old daughter, while her mother and her mother’s boyfriend lived upstairs in their home on the outskirts of Waynesboro, Tennessee.
All squeezed into the bathroom of the cinder block basement Friday night as the tornado approached and made whooshing sounds like a washing machine.
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Residents are cleaning up after the devastating tornadoes from the weekend (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)“As it ripped the roof off, the shower curtain fell,” Milam, 26, said Sunday. “So I’m trying to dig through the shower curtain and see. I saw darkness and then rain started to fall.”
Then absolute terror.
“And the house — I watched it pick up and move … about six inches and then pick up and it was gone,” she added.
“I was just thinking it’s gonna take the tub, like we’re going to be gone,” she said.
A piece of wood fell over them. So did a mirror. “We were fine and just thankful that we made it out alive,” Milam said.
Milam, who works as a nurse, soon joined other neighbours in digging people out from wrecked homes. One woman had a laceration to her face and other parts of her body and was flown out by a helicopter.
Another man was freed from the rubble of his home by rescuers who used chainsaws to slice through the debris.