Resilience Natural Disasters

Tornados hammer Alabama, leave 6 dead and massive destruction in their wake

by Alexandra Kelley | March 26, 2021 | Mar. 26, 2021

alabama severe weather tornadoes six dead calhoun counties central georgia eastward tracking storm floodig hale
The Day 1 Convective Outlook from the NWS Storm Prediction Center following the series of tornados and thunderstorms that hit the South.   NOAA National Weather Service

Story at a glance

  • On Thursday evening, deadly tornadoes touched down across central Alabama counties.
  • The storm is set to track northeast toward the Carolinas.

Alabama residents faced a bout of severe weather on Thursday evening, as strong thunderstorms moved across the Southeastern U.S., giving way to tornado watches being issued for multiple regions across the state.

The warnings prompted Gov. Kay Ivey (R) to issue a state of emergency on March 25. 

Multiple tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down along Alabama’s central counties which tracked further eastward into Georgia by early Friday morning. 

The collection of tornadoes caused extensive damage to homes and buildings between both states, leaving at least six people dead across the towns of Ohatchee and Wellington in Calhoun County.

 

 

 

 

The National Weather Service based in Birmingham, Ala., has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook stretching into the weekend, with hail and heavy winds potentially returning on Saturday evening into Sunday.

Flooding is also a concern as the Coosa River could overflow thanks to the 2-4 inches of heavy rainfall seen since Thursday evening. 

Power outages due to the storm were also reported, with approximately 25,521 outages in Alabama reported across Bibb, Shelby, Chilton, Coosa, Hale and Calhoun Counties, among others. 

Roughly 9,800 power outages across Georgia have been reported as well.

Emergency crews are responding to sites assessing damages and providing recovery services, Ivey wrote on Twitter. 

“I continue to pray for the families of the victims, folks that were injured & everyone impacted by the violent storms,” she continued. “We will be there for our fellow Alabamians as they work to recover from this devastation.”

This follows the series of tornadoes the Southeast saw over the week of March 17, resulting in widespread damage and one fatality in Mississippi.

‘I GOT NO DEFENSE’ TED CRUZ ADMITS IN CONTROVERSY OVER ENERGY POLICIES IN CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS

AOC AND TEXAS GOV. ABBOTT FIRE AT EACH OTHER OVER DEADLY WINTER STORM, GREEN NEW DEAL

BILL GATES SLAMS TEXAS GOVERNOR’S EXPLANATION FOR CATASTROPHIC POWER OUTAGES 

changing america copyright.