Officials confirmed another death Thursday from last weekend’s tornado outbreak that hammered the South, while the National Weather Service finalized a storm survey from one of the most devastating twisters to hit the South during the event.
WALB.com said Patricia Ann Gohman died Thursday after being hospitalized for head injuries suffered when a tree fell on her Dougherty County, Georgia, home during a tornado Sunday. Her death was the 16th confirmed in Georgia from the outbreak that spawned more than 70 tornadoes and killed a total of 21 people across the South.
Several of the deaths were blamed on a single EF3 tornado, which was more than a mile wide at times along its 70-mile path and packed winds as high as 150 mph, according to an NWS storm survey that was finalized on Thursday.
Officials in Albany, a city of roughly 77,000 in southwestern Georgia, described the damage looking as if a nuclear bomb had gone off.
“It is just total devastation and destruction,” Dougherty County EMA director Ron Rowe said in a press conference. “We have several neighborhoods that have just been removed.”
Georgia
The outbreak’s deadliest toll came before daybreak Sunday when a large tornado blew through a mobile home park in south Georgia — about 60 miles southeast of Albany — shearing away siding, upending homes and killing seven people.
The Cook County Sheriff’s office identified the victims as Alexis Livingston, 18, Jamie Cantrell Walters, 33, Mary Cantrell, 62, Adreian Mays, 38, Lawansa Perry, 41, Amanda Rowe, 41, and Joe Deskins, 36.
More fatalities were confirmed Monday morning by Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler, where five people died Sunday after an EF3 tornado hit Albany. Officials identified two of the four victims as Paul Freeman, 82, and Oscar Reyna, 39, who both died in a mobile home park off of Holly Drive, WALB.com reported.
On Friday, Dougherty County emergency management officials ended the search for a 2-year-old who was reported missing after the tornado struck his neighborhood, according to a separate WALB report. Ron Rowe, director of the county EMA, said all efforts to locate the boy have been exhausted.
In addition to the deaths in Albany and Adel, two people were killed in the same home in Barney, which was blown onto Highway 122, WALB added. Officials identified them as Jessie James Newsome and Bettie Lee Newsome.
In Berrien County, the sheriff’s office confirmed to the National Weather Service that two people died near New Lois, likely in a continuation of the reported tornado that hit Adel.
Russell Nix, 82, and his wife Ann Nix, 78, died when an oak tree fell on their home on Old Lois Road, WALB also reported.
The National Weather service estimates that at least 12 tornadoes hit the state over the weekend. Dozens of injuries have been reported across the region, and others were lucky to survive, emerging relatively unscathed from heavily damaged homes.
“The hall wall came in on me and I fell down. And our backdoor came through and fell in on me,” Cook County resident Jenny Bullard, 19, told WALB. “And I heard my dad calling my name …There was a bunch of stuff on top of him and I just started throwing everything I could until I got to him.”
Mississippi
Hattiesburg saw the most extensive damage on Saturday, where a violent tornado damaged or destroyed more than 1,100 homes, according to state officials. Four people lost their lives after the EF3 tornado hit the city.
Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict identified the victims: Earnest Perkins, 58; Cleveland Madison, 20; David Wayne McCoy, 47 and Simona Cox, 72.
Many survivors, like Darryl McMorris, told stories of the tornado’s horrifying path of destruction. He told the AP that he held onto his daughters as the twister destroyed their house, wall by wall – one of which fell on top of them. They all survived, but their house is a total loss, the report added.
“Is God mad at us?” his daughter asked.
At least 50 people were treated for injuries at area hospitals, Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn told the AP. Insured damages are likely to top $200 million in Hattiesburg alone, Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said.
“You’ve got so many buildings that are for all practical purposes totally destroyed,” Andy Case, a disaster recovery specialist with the Department of Insurance, told the AP.
At William Carey University, dorms were damaged and several injuries reported on their campus. According to WDAM.com, WCU women’s soccer player Taylor Gautreaux lost three fingers when a door was slammed shut on her hand. Gautreaux’s coach, Danny Owens, told WDAM she’s recovering in a hospital.
“Campus is closed until further notice,” the school’s official Twitter account said. “Students are being escorted from campus. Arrangements will be made for students who cannot go home.”
Florida
Columbia County emergency officials reported one person was killed when a large tree split a home in half in the Lake City area.
One person was injured near Lake City after a tree fell and split a home in half. Several trees and power lines were downed in Panama City, and a 68 mph wind gust was clocked at nearby Tyndall Air Force Base.
In central Florida, mobile homes suffered roof damage near Lakeland and Bradenton.
William T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach County was closed Monday due to possible tornado damage.
South Carolina
The National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes struck South Carolina over the weekend, injuring one woman. The weather service says an EF2 tornado touched down about 3:45 p.m. Saturday in Barnwell County and moved into Bamberg County.
The woman was trapped in a mobile home that was damaged near Blackville. She was taken to a hospital but there was no word on her injuries.
Hundreds of trees were blown down and several homes and barns were damaged.
Alabama
Ar least four tornadoes hit the state over the weekend, including an EF2 that completely destroyed four homes and damaged 20 other buildings in Choctaw County.
Trees and utility poles were downed and there was various structural damage in the Pepperell Village area in Opelika, where a tornado touched down Sunday. The same storm tore the roof off of a mobile home in Chewacla State Park in Lee County Sunday, according to NWS.
Louisiana
Louisiana saw five confirmed tornadoes over the weekend, including an EF2 tornado that struck near Plain Dealing Saturday, the National Weather Service reports. The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office said that two dozen homes were damaged; two mobile homes were rolled and completely destroyed. There were no injuries reported.
Ten to 15 homes were damaged or destroyed in Natchitoches Parish by reported tornadoes and storms, the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office said. A few injuries were also associated with the storms, but none were considered life-threatening.
North of Colfax in Grant Parish an EF1 flipped a mobile home, injuring a woman inside and dropped a tree on another home causing major damage.
According to the Sheriff’s Department, a man in Point Place, Louisiana, was “sucked out of his brick home through a front door and thrown in his front yard while his terrified wife held onto a handle in the kitchen.”
Texas
At leat three confirmed tornadoes touched down in the Lone Star state over the weekend.
An EF2 that hit just west of Smithland Saturday, tore the roof off a home and lifted a bathtub with a woman inside it out of the home and deposited it in the woods with the woman still in the tub. She was not injured.
A second EF2 near Scottsville damaged at least eight homes late Saturday afternoon. KTAL reports that the entire area is without power as crews work to clear downed power lines and trees. Luckily, no one was injured. Saturday wet roads contributed to the deaths of two men in Harris County, Click2Houston.com reports.
Near Jefferson, an EF1 tore the roof off a mobile home and dropped numerous trees, one on an outbuilding.
By Eric Chaney
Jan 27 2017 02:30 PM EST
Damage to the Sunshine Acres trailer park near Adel, Georgia, caused by a likely tornado. (Courtesy WALB)
