9 killed by twister in North Carolina

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9 killed by twister in North Carolina 
4 children in critical condition, same storms ripped through South

A tornado ripped apart a mobile home park early Thursday, killing at least seven people in this tiny riverside community and raising the death toll from the thunderstorms across the South to 10.

Officials searching for victims cautioned the death toll could rise.

Car crashes in the heavy rain early Thursday killed two people in North Carolina, and another person died Wednesday when a tornado struck a home in Louisiana.

In Riegelwood, dozens of homes were destroyed near the Cape Fear River, about 20 miles west of the coastal city of Wilmington, according to Gov. Mike Easley’s office.

Authorities had found seven bodies in the wreckage of the mobile home park by midday, and “that number very well may go up,” said County Commissioner Chairman Kip Godwin, the designated spokesman for the county’s emergency management office.

A new tornado warning issued late Thursday morning kept the area on alert.

“We’ve stepped across bodies to get (to) debris and search for other bodies here this morning,” said Columbus County Commissioner Sammie Jacobs as the state reported dozens of homes were destroyed.

“You see one (mobile home) that’s standing still. It’s not touched,” Jacobs said of the tornado’s impact on the community near Riegelwood, located about 20 miles west of Wilmington. “And you’ll see four or five others that are demolished, and houses on top of cars and cars on top of houses.”

Jacobs said Sheriff Chris Batten told him there were also “quite a few people with various injuries here and there who have been taken to various hospitals.”

Officials at hospitals in Columbus County and neighboring New Hanover County said they were treating 22 people with storm-related injuries and that at least five, including four children, were in critical condition.

One neighbor said she felt her home shake and that her garage was completely detached from her home by the suspected twister.

Trees and power lines are down in the area, and some people are without electricity. Two nearby schools were closed.

Near Charlotte, another person died in a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 77 while heavy rain fell around 7:30 a.m. Thursday. No other details were immediately available.

Tornado watches were issued in various North Carolina counties as the storms tracked north.

Virginia also was on the watch for tornadoes, and other Mid-Atlantic states also expect severe weather, after powerful thunderstorms on Wednesday killed a man in Louisiana, injured eight people in Mississippi and slammed into a skating rink filled with 31 preschoolers in Montgomery, Ala., destroying the building as youngsters huddled inside.

Much of coastal Virginia was under a flood watch, and Alexandria residents were told to prepare for possible flooding by cleaning out storm drains and gutters.

Other areas expecting severe winds and rain were Washington, D.C., and eastern Kentucky.

Pre-schoolers huddle for shelter
On Wednesday, one child suffered a broken bone and another had a head laceration in the Montgomery incident, but everyone else was fine.

"I'm amazed that anyone got out of there," said Mayor Bobby Bright.

Authorities said they were unsure whether a tornado or strong thunderstorm hit the Fun Zone Skate Center, which has a preschool during the day. An apartment complex across the street also was damaged, but no injuries were reported.

Elsewhere, a possible tornado tore through a community south of Montgomery, toppling trees, overturning a mobile home and knocking out power at a school. A few homes also were damaged in south Alabama, and downpours of as much as 4 inches of rain caused minor flooding.

No serious injuries were reported.

The storm hit the skating rink about 10:15 a.m., when 31 children and four adults were inside for day care. The manager made everyone get into the lone section of the building that survived the high winds.

"She may have saved many of these children's lives," said the mayor.

Russell Grant showed up to take home his 5-year-old son Justin after hearing what had happened.

"I wasn't panicked until I saw the building," he said.

Tantameka Moorer, who works at a drug store across the street from the rink, said the doors flew open as the wind picked up quickly.

"I ran to close the doors and it was like the sky was actually on the ground," she said. "It was gray and there was a lot of rain."

In the southeast Alabama town of Elba, police investigator Tony Harrison said several people were sent to a hospital after storms overturned trailers near a rural intersection.

"Tornadoes have touched down in a couple of places. We have a number of areas that have been messed up," he said.

Damage was also reported in Covington County near the Florida state line.

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More injuries were reported in Arkansas, where the wind toppled at least five tractor-trailer rigs along Interstate 40 and damaged a hotel.

The man killed near Greensburg, La., was in a trailer covered by a wooden structure when the tornado hit shortly before dawn, said Maj. Michael Martin of the St. Helena Sheriff’s Office.

“It was total destruction,” Martin said.

He said one or more tornadoes damaged buildings and power lines and downed trees along a path about 2 miles wide and 3 to 4 miles long.

Several buildings were reported damaged in southeastern Louisiana’s Tangipahoa and Washington parishes, near the Mississippi state line, and more than 40 homes were damaged or destroyed in four counties in southwestern Mississippi.

In Mississippi’s Lamar County, emergency operations center director James Smith said a possible tornado struck a subdivision outside Sumrall at about 2:50 a.m.

“It appears to be a tornado from the reports of damage we’ve received — including 11 destroyed or damaged homes — and from the track,” Smith said.

Smith said six people were taken to hospitals from the Sumrall area, and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said two other people were injured in Greene County.

Billy Morgan said he was in his office workshop near Glade when a possible tornado blew the windows out.

“All I heard was a loud roar and then the next thing everything was on top of me,” Morgan told The Hattiesburg American.

Flooding along coast
Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, devastated last year by Hurricane Katrina, heavy rain flooded streets and closed some schools. City Hall in Biloxi suffered roof and water damage, and Mayor A.J. Holloway told The Sun Herald it appeared that a small tornado had touched down in the area.

As the storms moved eastward, as much as 4 inches of rain fell in southern Alabama, flooding some homes, authorities reported.

In Arkansas, the thunderstorms toppled tractor-trailer rigs along Interstate 40, and police said at least four people were hospitalized. Authorities said a hotel near Wheatley had structural damage.

The storms caused flash flooding in Arkansas, including the Little Rock area, where police said they rescued two people who escaped high water by climbing trees.

More than 3.5 inches of rain fell at Little Rock, including more than an inch in 20 minutes at the city’s airport, the weather service said. Hail the diameter of quarters pounded areas west of the city.