Tornado Hits Alabama; Five Dead, Dozens Hurt

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A tornado slammed into a shopping district, a residential area and a school Wednesday, killing at least five people and trapping many others in their cars and homes, police said.

“Several people are still trapped in vehicles and apartment complexes and shopping areas,” police spokesman Ben Jennings said after the twister touched down during the afternoon in the south section of this northern Alabama city.

Police received reports of dozens of injuries, including some at an apartment complex where rescuers were blocked by downed power lines. Jennings said authorities were moving heavy equipment into the area.

Telephone communication and electricity were disrupted by the tornado, and WAAY-TV, the only station still broadcasting, reported widespread damage.

The television station reported that the roof of a business collapsed from winds that overturned cars in the area. A nearby shopping center also was damaged.

Humana Hospital administrator David Miller said about 30 patients were treated for minor injuries. “We have at least three so far going to surgery,” he said.

Miller said doctors were having difficulty reaching the hospital because of blocked roads.

The Huntsville Times said several people were injured when the tornado hit Jones Valley Elementary School in southeast Huntsville while teachers and students were inside.

Another tornado touched down in the Harvest community, west of Huntsville, the Huntsville News reported.

The National Weather Service earlier said a tornado hit the east Alabama hamlet of Mellow Valley, damaging at least one home and causing some injuries. Weather officials said people were trapped inside a collapsed house.

A spokeswoman for the Clay County Sheriff’s Department said people were injured at one house in a rural area 30 miles east of Sylacauga.

Another tornado touched down earlier in the day as severe weather swept across much of Alabama. The weather service placed most of the state under a tornado watch.

Tornadoes and thunderstorms with wind gusts up to 100 m.p.h. raked much of the Midwest and Southeast on Wednesday.

Thunderstorms spawned tornadoes in Tennessee, Arkansas and South Carolina. The weather service also reported severe thunderstorms in Louisiana, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Major storms also blasted eastern Missouri and western Illinois, where winds gusted up to 100 m.p.h.

A tornado blew a new roof off the gymnasium at East Poinsett County High School in Lepanto, Ark., and students scurried for cover under the bleachers.

Another high school roof was blown away in northern Bullitt County in Kentucky.

In southern Illinois, east of St. Louis, pre-dawn storms sent a tree crashing onto a mobile home in Alorton, and a woman and a man were trapped inside for two hours. About 25 people in the area were injured, two of them seriously.

At St. Louis Downtown-Parks Airport in Cahokia, Ill., two hangars were badly damaged and aircraft and debris were tossed about by gusts up to 100 m.p.h. Officials estimated the damage at the airport at $5 million.

Lightning knocked out power in the Chicago suburbs of Summit and Bedford Park, a Commonwealth Edison spokeswoman said.