The worst tornado to hit Alabama in 70 years left 11 people dead, dozens injured and two missing as rescue workers Sunday sifted through the tangled debris it left behind, according to a Tuscaloosa County emergency management official.
According to press reports, Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has called a state of emergency for Tuscaloosa and was expected to visit the ravaged areas Sunday to assess the damage before submitting a request for federal disaster relief.
Meanwhile, rescue workers are still trying to locate a missing 16-year-old girl and 14-month-old boy, according to the Tuscaloosa News.
Eyewitnesses interviewed by the daily described the tornado as enormous.
"It was at least a quarter mile to a half mile across," local resident Joe Hayes told the Tuscaloosa News. "I could see tin and trees and all kinds of things up in the air."
Guillermo Godoy, a doctor attending to tornado victims in a triage area near a local trailer park, told the newspaper the area was "like a war zone. It looks like we are in the middle of an area that has been bombed."
The worst of a series of twisters to strike this eastern Alabama town touched down here around 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) Saturday, striking at least two trailer parks and leaving a path of destruction across a number of districts, American Red Cross volunteer Ronnie King, an amateur radio operator for the organization, told AFP.
The Tuscaloosa Emergency Management Agency handled all initial responses to attend to damaged areas of the town, including evacuating victims, according to King.
The damage was stretched across several communities of Tuscaloosa, including Inglewood, Taylorville, Bear Creek, Duncanville, East Tuscaloosa and Cottondale, King said.
At least 100 homes in Tuscaloosa have been damaged by the tornado, according to CNN television.
Alabama Power told the Tuscaloosa News that 48,000 homes were left without power late Saturday and added that it could take days to restore.
The time from November to December is considered Alabama's secondary tornado season, with twisters still occurring -- though with less frequency than in summer or early fall.
Don Hartley, another emergency management agency spokesman, said authorities in Tuscaloosa had advance warning of the approaching tornado and sounded alarms.
"Of course, this time of year, when people are out and about, it's hard to get that information to everybody who needs it," he pointed out -- TUSCALOOSA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
