PIEDMONT, Mo. — Residents pounded by unusually vicious weather across parts of the U.S. surveyed damage Sunday from violent tornadoes, high winds and blinding dust storms that decimated homes and other structures and left at least 37 people dead.
National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Snell said tornado watches remained in effect for portions of the Carolinas, Eastern Georgia and Northern Florida.
“There still is the potential for severe weather from, say, the upper Ohio Valley and Western Pennsylvania down through the rest of the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, as we have this cold front that’s still moving across the country, and it won’t clear the East Coast until later on tonight,” Snell said.
The dynamic storm from Friday through Sunday earned an unusual “high risk” designation from weather forecasters. Still, experts said it’s not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.
At least three people were killed in central Alabama when multiple tornados swept across the state. Among those killed was an 82-year-old woman who was in a manufactured home that was destroyed by a twister, Dallas County Sheriff Michael L. Granthum said Sunday.
In Troy, Ala., parks officials said the recreation center where over 200 people had taken shelter would be closed due to damage from overnight storms. No one was injured.
12 dead in Missouri
Missouri resident Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing trapped neighbors found five bodies scattered in the debris Friday night outside what remained of his aunt’s house in hard-hit Wayne County. Scattered twisters killed at least a dozen people in the state, authorities said.
“It was a very rough deal last night,” Henderson said Saturday, not far from the splintered home he said they rescued his aunt from through a window of the only room left standing. “It’s really disturbing.”
On Saturday, Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County described the “unrecognizable home” where one man was killed as “just a debris field.”
“The floor was upside down,” he said. “We were walking on walls.”
In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced that six people had died in three counties and three more were missing late Saturday.
One of the deaths occurred in Covington County, where Seminary resident Traci Ladner said she watched a tornado knock down trees and power lines and destroy a house Saturday as she drove home from Ward’s Restaurant.
The twister touched down briefly, traveled over Highway 49 and then went back up before making another quick descent, she said.
“I was crying. My legs were shaking. It was pretty scary,” she said. “We were lucky that it picked back up.”
Bailey Dillon, 24, and her fiance, Caleb Barnes, watched from their front porch in Tylertown as a massive twister struck an area about half a mile away near Paradise Ranch RV Park.
They drove over afterward to see if anyone needed help.
“The amount of damage was catastrophic,” Dillon said.
