Tornadoes and violent storms tore through seven southern states, killing at least 313 people and causing billions of dollars of damage in one of the deadliest swarms of twisters in US history.
US President Barack Obama described the loss of life as “heartbreaking” and called the damage to homes and businesses “nothing short of catastrophic.”
He promised strong federal support for rebuilding and planned to view the damage yesterday.
Over several days this week, the powerful tornadoes — more than 160 reported in total — combined with storms to cut a swath of destruction heading west to east. It was the worst US natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed up to 1,800 people.
In some areas, whole neighborhoods were flattened, cars flipped over and trees and power lines felled, leaving tangled wreckage.
While rescue officials searched for survivors, some who sheltered in bathtubs, closets and basements told of miraculous escapes.
“I made it. I got in a closet, put a pillow over my face and held on for dear life because it started sucking me up,” said Angela Smith of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, one of the worst-hit cities.
In Birmingham, Alabama, which was also hard hit, Police Chief A.C. Roper said rescue workers sifted through rubble “hand to hand” on Thursday to pull people from destroyed homes.
“We even rescued two babies, one that was trapped in a crib when the house fell down on top of the baby,” Roper said in an interview on PBS NewsHour.
Tornadoes are a regular feature of life in the US south and midwest, but they are rarely so devastating.
Wednesday was the deadliest day of tornadoes in the US since 310 people lost their lives on April 3, 1974.
Given the apparent destruction, insurance experts were wary of estimating damage costs, but believed they would run into the billions of dollars, with the worst impact concentrated in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.
“In terms of the ground-up damage and quite possibly the insured damage, this event will be of historic proportions,” said Jose Miranda, an executive with the catastrophe risk modeling firm EQECAT.
“I think this is going to rank up as one of the worst tornado outbreaks in US history,” US Federal Emergency Management Agency director Craig Fugate said.
Fugate spoke in an interview with CNN from Alabama, where his agency said the tornadoes killed at least 210 people.
There were still unconfirmed reports late on Thursday of “entire towns flattened” in northern parts of the state, Fugate said.
“We’re still trying to get people through rescues and locate the missing,” he said.
The 1.6km-wide monster twister that tore on Wednesday through Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, may have been the biggest ever to hit the state, AccuWeather.com meteorologist Josh Nagelberg said.
Obama was to visit Alabama yesterday to see the damage and meet the governor. He declared a state of emergency for Alabama and ordered federal aid.
“I want every American who has been affected by this disaster to know that the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover, and we will stand with you as you rebuild,” Obama said at the White House.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
RSS