The massive storm system left at least six dead in Alabama, where a twister damaged buildings and tossed cars in the streets of historic downtown Selma.
A massive storm system whipping up severe winds and spawning tornadoes cut a path across the South Thursday, killing at least seven people in Georgia and Alabama, where a twister damaged buildings and tossed cars in the streets of historic downtown Selma.
A six-year-old was among the dead, authorities said.
Authorities said a clearer picture of the extent of the damage and a search for additional victims would come Friday, when conditions were expected to clear. After the storm began easing Thursday night, tens of thousands of customers were without power across the two states.
In Jackson, Georgia, a child was killed when a tree fell on a car being driven by the child’s mother, the Butts County Sheriff’s Office told CBS News. CBS Atlanta affiliate WANF-TV reports that the child was a girl. The station says the mother was first listed in critical condition but has since been released, and the sheriff’s office confirmed to CBS News that the mother was OK.
In the same county, southeast of Atlanta, the storm appeared to have knocked a freight train off its tracks, officials said.
In Selma, a city etched in the history of the civil rights movement, the city council used lights from cellphones as they held a meeting on the sidewalk to declare a state of emergency.
At least six deaths were recorded in Autauga County, Alabama, 41 miles northeast of Selma, Ernie Baggett, the county’s emergency management director, told CBS News, adding that an estimated 40 homes were damaged or destroyed by a tornado. He said it cut a 20-mile path across the rural communities of Old Kingston and Marbury.
At least 12 people were injured severely enough to be taken to hospitals by emergency responders, Baggett told The Associated Press. He said crews were focused Thursday night on cutting through downed trees to look for people who may need help.
“This is the worst that I’ve seen here in this county,” Baggett said of the damage.
