Severe Weather in Alabama Flattens Homes, Tears Off Roofs
Published Date: 3/26/2021
Source: Bloomberg Quicktake: Now
An apparent tornado roared through a housing subdivision in Alabama on Thursday, reducing one home to a pile of rubble and ripping roofs off others. Trees were pulled from the ground and thousands were left without power across a large swath of the Deep South as strong winds and heavy downpours swept across the region. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The National Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings in Alabama and surrounding states where forecasters said conditions were ripe for strong twisters that could stay on the ground for miles. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued an emergency declaration for 46 counties as the severe weather approached, and officials opened shelters in and around Birmingham. Firefighters said a family was able to safely escape their toppled home in the Eagle Point subdivision of Shelby County, not far from Birmingham. Other nearby two-story homes were missing much of their upper floors. In the city of Pelham, authorities posted video and photos showing large trees blocking roads and damaged utility poles leaning menacingly over streets littered with debris from badly damaged homes. More than 20,000 customers were without power in Alabama. Severe weather also hit parts of Mississippi on Thursday, a day after authorities reported a weather-related death in the southwestern part of the state. Ester Jarrell, 62, died when a large tree toppled over onto her mobile home after heavy rain soaked the ground Wednesday night, a Wilkinson County official told The Associated Press. Along with Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama, parts of Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia were also at risk of strong tornadoes, the national Storm Prediction Center warned. Metropolitan areas in the path of Thursday's storms included Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake