‘Major, Major Damage’ Reported in Alabama After Storms Rage Across the South, Killing At Least Two and Leaving Thousands Without Power

“Powerful storms ravaged through Alabama early this morning in an area that has not yet fully recovered from tornadoes that left the community in despair last year.

At least two people were killed and heavy damage was reported just hours after tornadoes struck portions of Arkansas, downing trees and power lines and leaving thousands without electricity there.

The predawn storms struck the Birmingham area, with the towns of Center Point and Trussville just to the northeast of the city being particularly hard hit, emergency management officials said.

The devastation prompted Alabama Gov Robert Bentley to declare a state of emergency for the entire state.

Fatalities were reported in the towns of Oak Grove and Clay, but those weren’t the only towns affected.

‘Center Point was hit pretty badly,’ Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency spokesman Mark Kelly said.

An emergency management spokesman told the Associated Press that more than 100 people have been injured in central Alabama by the line of storms.

Homes were flattened, windows were blown out of cars and roofs were peeled back in the middle of the night in the community of Oak Grove near Birmingham. As dawn broke, residents surveyed the damage and officials used chainsaws to clear fallen trees.

Chief Deputy Randy Christian told the Birmingham News: ‘The hardest hit area at this time includes Oak Grove and Center Point through Clay and Trussville. Several homes are reported destroyed and numerous reports of injuries have come in to our call center’.

Jefferson County EMA official, Bob Ammons said: ‘We have major, major damage’.” Read more.