Tornadoes From Depleted Hurricane Strike Alabama

Tornadoes spawned by the remnants of Hurricane Danny battered north-central Alabama Friday, killing two persons, injuring 20 others and heavily damaging more than a dozen buildings.

In Louisiana, authorities surveyed the damage from Danny, weakened to a tropical depression since it reached land Thursday. The remnants of Danny moved northeast, carrying rain into Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee.

The twisters howled up “Tornado Alley” and hit Parrish at 11:15 a.m., Walker County Emergency Management Director John Burnette said. Eleven homes, one trailer and five commercial buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, said Gloria Mosley, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency in Montgomery.

State troopers were sent in to guard against looting.

A 66-year-old woman died in the town, 40 miles northwest of Birmingham, when a twister ripped apart her mobile home. One man was injured when a tornado flipped his truck, and four persons were hurt in nearby Jasper.

Another seven persons were injured in Cullman County near Gold Ridge, and a woman died of a heart attack when a twister roared through, authorities said.

The National Weather Service said tornadoes also were sighted or indicated on radar in Jefferson, Winston, Tuscaloosa, Hale, Lauderdale, Chilton and Morgan counties, most in western or northern parts of the state. Twisters also touched down in south-central Tennessee, where a Giles County sheriff’s dispatcher reported some injuries and property damage.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, inspectors were sent into 13 parishes to estimate the cost of repairs and determine whether the state would qualify for federal disaster aid. Early indications were that damage was light, despite winds that reached 100 m.p.h. and five to seven inches of rain.

The worst damage appeared to be at Cypremort Point, a fishing village on Vermilion Bay, where the storm floated a house across a canal.