Tornadoes Hit Alabama Hard
“Enterprise has suffered major and widespread damage,” said Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, who sent 100 National Guard troops to Enterprise and put additional troops on alert.
State officials sent search and rescue teams, ambulances, generators and emergency lights to aid the search for survivors.
They are still looking for survivors.
There are believed to be 18 dead.
At a news conference, Assistant Superintendent Bob Ferris told reporters that 15 of the 18 people believed dead from the school, and asked America “that you continue to pray for our students.”
Enterprise Mayor Kenneth Boswell confirms that emergency crews are still assessing the damage after a series of tornadoes are believed to have struck Alabama.
Witnesses in Alabama say the devastation is enormous in certain areas, where buildings and cars have been destroyed in just an afternoon. Enterprise alone is looking at 200 yards of complete destruction, according to initial estimates from the National Weather Service (NWS).
We’ve been under a tornado watch all day. We’ve had high winds and blinding rain most of the day, but fortunately for us, the tornadoes so far have been south of us. Sadly, there are many others in the path of these horrific storms.
If tornado season is starting out like this, we are in for a rough ride.
Prayers for those who have been or are in the path of these storms.
This father describes what happened when he tried to beat the tornado to the school.
PoliBlogger has photos from the area.
Katie Couric tries to turn a tragedy into a political statement, of course.
More at Tidbits & Treasures, Ol’ Broad Rambling, Badger Blog
Slightly off topic …. Because of the seriousness of this topic, I’m resisting the temptation to comment on my observations of the complete lack of understanding of ‘Southern Speak’ by the writers of the news articles I’ve been reading. They quote witnesses in the area and completely misinterpret what they are saying. I mentioned this to my Beloved Curmudgeon as I was reading an article that quoted someone as saying ‘it was ugly’. The writer then went on to try to describe the storm as LOOKING ugly. He obviously didn’t understand what the guy was saying. My Beloved Curmudgeon, who is from up north said, ‘Nobody understands Southern.’ He’s right about that.
Other Southerners will understand what I mean when I say it got ugly up in here today.
March 2nd, 2007 at 8:27 am
It certainly did get ugly around here, but not as ugly as it did West and South of us. You are so right about the prim and proper network newspeople not understanding Southern terminology.