Southeast Raked by Tornadoes; 4 Killed, Scores Injured

Severe thunderstorms slashed through parts of the Southeast late Friday and early Saturday with tornadoes and high winds, killing four people, injuring dozens of others, knocking out power to thousands and damaging buildings and automobiles.

In the Atlanta area, two people died Saturday when trees fell into their bedrooms, and a woman in north central Louisiana was killed Friday night when a wind gust threw her mobile home 30 feet, authorities said.

“We had a band of severe storms that developed over northeast Texas and spread eastward during the afternoon,” said Ernest Ethridge of the National Weather Service. “We’ve had rainfall across the area of 4 to 14 inches.”

The thunderstorm line, moving east overnight, brought reports of tornado touchdowns in Louisiana, Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas, and high winds at one point knocked out power to 112,000 utility customers in Alabama and 300,000 in Georgia.

Ethridge said winds up to 50 m.p.h. knocked down trees, and hail knocked out windows in buildings and cars in northern Louisiana.

In Calhoun, La., Shirley Robinson, 47, died and her 5-year-old grandson, Darrell Robinson, suffered minor injuries Friday night when a gust flipped her trailer home almost 30 feet, Ouachita Parish sheriff’s deputies said.

The storm knocked out power to about 10,000 Louisiana Power & Light Co. customers, and the blackout continued into Saturday morning for about 2,100 in Sterlington, said LP&L; District Manager Bill Turnbough.

Georgia authorities said Elizabeth Stevens, 72, of Norcross died when a 3-foot-thick pine tree fell into her bedroom, and Mantrell Crowley, a 10-year-old boy, was killed by a tree that fell on his bedroom in southwest Atlanta.

In Henry County, south of Atlanta, Thomas A. Henderson, 69, was killed when he was crushed by a tree as he stood near his mailbox, county Coroner Ronnie Stewart said.

By mid-afternoon, repair crews had restored power to 200,000 customers in metropolitan Atlanta, but isolated areas could be blacked out until today, Georgia Power Co. spokesman Trip Cagle said.

Alabama Power Co. estimated 112,000 homes and businesses without electricity in the southern two-thirds of the state, and called in repair crews from Mississippi and Florida, company spokesman Mike Casey said.

At least 24 people were injured, two of them seriously, in Alabama’s Talladega County, and Sheriff Jerry Studdard said at least 15 mobile homes were demolished. National Guard troops cleared fallen trees that closed U.S. 280.

The storms brought gusts of more than 80 m.p.h. in Atlanta and Macon, with tornadoes damaging structures in Columbus, Americus and other parts of northeastern Georgia.

Albert McManus of Huntsville, Ala., said he and his wife, Pamela, were visiting relatives in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Ga., and were awakened by howling winds around 5:30 a.m.

“I heard something that sounded like an F-15 jet,” McManus said. “Then the wind took the roof completely off. The wall fell on my wife and me, and I somehow managed to lift the wall and get my wife out.”

Columbus police Maj. Ross McCain said tornadoes touched down in the central and east portions of that city, inflicting substantial damage to buildings, but no injuries were reported.

In Americus, authorities said a tornado touched down about 6:30 a.m., ripping the roof off a convenience store and throwing it 150 yards where it landed atop a house. A man sleeping inside was injured slightly.

The storm line advanced into the Carolinas, bringing tornadoes and slashing winds early Saturday to western North Carolina and northwestern South Carolina, where two people received minor injuries.

A twister also touched down Saturday in the Florida Panhandle city of Milton, damaging 50 to 60 homes, but causing no injuries, officials said.