Tornadoes roar across South, killing 22

[gulfcoastliberal]

Source: USA Today

ATKINS, Ark. — Tornadoes across four Southern states tore through homes, ripped the roof off a shopping mall and blew apart warehouses in a rare spasm of violent winter weather that killed at least 21 people and injured dozens more.

The twisters that slammed Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky were part of a line of storms that raged across the nation's midsection at the end of a day of Super Tuesday primaries in several states. Candidates including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee even paused their victory speeches to remember the victims.

A spectacular fire erupted at a natural gas pumping station northeast of Nashville that authorities could have been damaged by the storms, and an undetermined number of people were reported dead.

A couple and their 11-year-old daughter were killed in their home after a tornado touched down near the center of Atkins, a community of 3,000 along the Arkansas River in the central part of the state.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/tornadoes/2008-02-05-south-storms_N.htm

[tekisui]

1. 22? Wow. I didn't realize the number was that high. Stay safe.

[Maddy McCall]

3. Expected to rise.

A spectacular fire erupted at a natural gas pumping station northeast of Nashville that authorities could have been damaged by the storms, and an undetermined number of people were reported dead.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-weather6feb06,1,614298.story?track=crosspromo

[Maddy McCall]

2. And it's not over.

We're getting warnings in central and south Mississippi now.

[Skittles]

4. *sniff*

terrible, just awful

[Maddy McCall]

5. Look at the photos.

It is terrible.

Memphis, TN:



Oxford, MS:




Southaven, MS:

[Skittles]

6. YIKES

very bad

[gulfcoastliberal]

8. Won't know the true extent until after sunup.

Everyone stay safe.

[knowledgeispwr]

7. It's ongoing...

tornado warnings stretch from Louisiana to Kentucky.

[nealmhughes]

9. Huntsville Alabama TV reporting right now at 3:23 a.m. CST that a major tornado is on the ground

near Decatur Alabama, a suburb of Huntsville. There was visual confirmation of it in Lawrence County, Alabama with injuries just earlier. Sirens are sounding in Lawrence, Limestone, and Morgan Counties, and about to sound in Madison. Over 500,000 live in these counties.

[nealmhughes]

10. Police report at 3:31 a.m. tornado on the ground in Decatur, Alabama right now!

Moving near I-65/I-565 interchange and Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant towards Madsion.

[donheld]

11. This is God's punishment for voting Huckabee

:sarcasm: :D

[Maddy McCall]

12. At least 31 dead now, and more expected.

Tornadoes on the ground in Alabama this morning.

[DesertRat]

13. 45 people now reported killed

:cry:

[ravencalling]

14. Barely missed us - Tennessee

We live just down the street from the mall that was hit hard by this to our West, and to our East Southhaven where the warehouses were destroyed.

Last night was a nightmare. Tornado warnings, one after the other - we don't see tornadoes like this hitting Memphis. It was very surreal.

My family was very fortunate.

My heart goes out to those families who lost loved ones in this monster storm, because that's exactly what it was!

To those people saying things about deserving this, I know you are trying to be humorous, but this was anything but that believe me!
There is not much you can do during something like this except to watch where these things are headed, seek appropriate shelter and pray you do not get hit.

Our local news actually had footage of one of the tornadoes, the one that hit the mall. I watched in disbelief as I could see it touching down, knocking down power lines, etc. and didn't realize at the time that it was so close.

[Virginia Dare]

15. Wow how scary, glad you're safe...n/t

[annabanana]

16. Wow! How terrifying.

My prayers go out to all you down there affected by this...

[Bake]

17. My folks live in Jackson, TN

My dad lives about 1 1/2 miles from Union University (my alma mater, by the way), which was devastated by the twister. He's OK, it missed his house. My mom lives in town and is fine, thank God.

Bake

[bamacrat]

18. 48 dead now.

My parents live in north Alabama the said it was stormy last night but not that bad where they were. They said they heard tornado sirens all night. Memphis got hit 3 times in a row by three huge storm cells, global warming not only affects the sea levels.

[AngryOldDem]

19. Thought Kentucky was done with this....

...but maybe not. :(

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/md/md0183.html

I am just amazed at how long-lived this system is, for early February. As an Arkansas emergency management official said this morning, if it's this bad now, what will spring bring?

Good thoughts going out to all affected.

[Lisa]

20. I just got an e-mail from a friend near Oxford, Mississippi

Her farm was hit by the storms, and one of the buildings was destroyed. Luckily the house is intact -- she and her family were terrified, but luckily everyone is okay.

[gulfcoastliberal]

21. Glad to hear it! My cousin who lives right across the river from Memphis

fortunately escaped damage.

[ChoralScholar]

22. Atkins is my hometown

The guy who was killed was named Jimmy Cherry. I went to high school with him. He and his wife and daughter were killed. They lived out by Lake Atkins, where the tornado first touched down.

It continued northeast through town, and destroyed a Free Will Baptist Church about 1000 feet behind my dad's house.

[springhill]

23. Can anyone tell me.............

if this is normal weather activity for this time of the year?

[RantinRavin]

25. Yep, it's normal

that is tornado alley, and it happens every year.

[Dulcinea]

24. Death toll is now 54.

JACKSON, Tennessee (CNN) -- Tornadoes and storms in the mid-South have killed 54 people since Tuesday evening in the deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States in more than 20 years.

The storms ripped apart homes and trapped residents of university dorms and a retirement home in debris.

The trail of death stretched across four states, with four people killed in Alabama, 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and 30 in Tennessee.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/02/06/tornadoes/index.html#cnnSTCText