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Killer storms menace U.S.

A house in Van Wert, Ohio, was torn open by the storm.
A house in Van Wert, Ohio, was torn open by the storm.

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VAN WERT, Ohio (CNN) -- A deadly line of storms marched east across the United States Sunday and early Monday, spawning numerous tornadoes that killed at least 19 people in three states and left a trail of flattened homes and businesses.

A meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Storms Prediction Center said it was the worst outbreak of tornadoes in years.

At least seven people died in Alabama. The storms were blamed for six deaths in Walker County and one death in Cherokee County, Alabama, near the Georgia state line, according to Jeff Evans, lead forecaster with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Walker County also reported 46 injuries, Evans said.

Five people were killed in Tennessee. The other deaths were in northwestern Ohio.

The northwestern Ohio county of Van Wert was one of the hardest hit areas. Two people were killed in the county, two were critically injured, and 17 others were hurt when severe storms struck around 3:30 p.m. EST, said Rick McCoy of the county's emergency management agency.

"Part of our industrial park was hit -- many of those industries are heavily damaged or completely destroyed," McCoy said. "We also had our local cinema complex hit, with five cinemas, which had numerous people in it at the time."

He said county officials managed to warn the theater 20 minutes before the tornado struck, allowing them time to move all their patrons to a central area. All crawled out of the flattened theater unhurt, McCoy said.

U.S. Highway 224, which runs from the southwest to the northeast through that corner of Ohio, was blocked off in Van Wert, said Dick Kimmins, a spokesman for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

Churches, homes damaged and destroyed

A supermarket in Hartford City, Indiana, shows damage from strong storms that passed through the area Sunday.
A supermarket in Hartford City, Indiana, shows damage from strong storms that passed through the area Sunday.

As the band of weather moved northeast, it hit the town of Continental, in Putnam County, killing two people and injuring one, NWS meteorologist Jeff Craven said. Shortly afterwards, what Craven said was a "possible tornado" struck Logan County, south of Putnam.

A church was leveled in Paulding County, just to the north of Van Wert, and "multiple" structures were damaged, Craven said. Storms blew down a house and injured five people outside of Grover Hill, also in Paulding County, he said.

"There's widespread damage and hail, too, but it's too numerous to mention," Craven said. "This is just totally out of control."

In north central Ohio, storms caused widespread damage in Seneca County, according to the sheriff's department.

One person was killed and two others were injured when a home on County Road 38 was leveled. A number of homes were destroyed in a subdivision.

The EMA dispatched workers across the state after reports that around a dozen Ohio counties were hit by storms. Kimmins said they established a staging area in Van Wert for families who have damage to their homes or are missing loved ones.

Other devastated areas were Coffee and Morgan Counties in Tennessee. In Coffee, about three miles north of Manchester, two people were killed -- one of them a 10-year-old boy, said Cecil Whaley of the state Emergency Management Agency.

Eighteen people were injured in Coffee County, he said, where a tornado was spotted as the storm moved through. A church, two tractor-trailers, and at least 20 homes were destroyed, Whaley said.

Fifty homes were destroyed in Morgan County after the tornado cut a mile-and-a-half-wide swath through the countryside, Whaley said. An unknown number of people were brought to hospitals in Oak Ridge and Knoxville, he said.

Severe storms roared through southeastern Kentucky, striking McCreary County.

In Pine Knot, about 15 miles west of Williamsburg, part of the roof was torn from East Tabernacle Church. A separate building was flattened on church property, according to Lt. Stephen Dilreath of the McCreary County Fire Department.

High winds also damaged trees, power lines and mobile homes.

Neighbors sort through the remains of a mobile home destroyed by a storm in Clarksville, Tennessee, on Sunday. Residents Dennis and Karen Louise Tooby were killed.
Neighbors sort through the remains of a mobile home destroyed by a storm in Clarksville, Tennessee, on Sunday. Residents Dennis and Karen Louise Tooby were killed.

A couple was killed in Montgomery County, Tennessee, when their mobile home was picked up by winds, hurled 165 feet down the street, and blown to bits, said Ted Denny, a spokesman for the county sheriff's department.

The 77-year-old father of one of the victims, who lived just a few doors away, heard the boom when the mobile home was destroyed and saw the remnants of it on the ground. Denny said the man was in shock.

"I'm also the senior chaplain, so I had to do a death notification," Denny said. "He pretty much knew that no one could survive."

The husband was an Australian national who owned his own welding business. His wife was an elementary school teacher, he said. They were the only casualties in the county.

At least a dozen people were taken to the hospital in Carroll County, between Memphis and Nashville, with minor injuries from the storm, a hospital spokesman said. Trees and power lines were brought down there, and entire walls of homes lay on the ground after the structures were destroyed.

The Southeast, particularly Alabama, was battered by storms and tornadoes Sunday night, Craven said. A tornado touched down in Fayette County, Alabama, at 7:12 p.m., causing damage and injuries and blocking State Highway 13 with trees.

"We've got a lot of major damage," said Johnny Burnett, Emergency Management Director for Walker County. He said Carbon Hill Junior High was "blown away," many buildings were damaged, and one emergency worker was hit by a live power line.

Moviegoers exit a Van Wert, Ohio, theater that was flattened by Sunday's storm. Officials warned the theater just before the tornado struck, allowing all of its patrons to exit safely.
Moviegoers exit a Van Wert, Ohio, theater that was flattened by Sunday's storm. Officials warned the theater just before the tornado struck, allowing all of its patrons to exit safely.

Carbon Hill and the town of Nauvoo, in northern Walker County, were hit the hardest, Burnett said.

Two tornadoes were spotted in Gray, Georgia, in the central part of the state, but they caused no damage and no injuries, a dispatcher with the Gray Police Department said.

Strong winds brought down trees, power lines, and at least one barn in Winston County, Mississippi, the sheriff's office said.

Sunday's severe weather began in the afternoon in Indiana, around 3:05 p.m. EST, when storms hit Adams County. It destroyed houses, barns, and a trailer.

A tornado struck Hartford City, Indiana, around 3:30 p.m. EST, the NWS said, injuring three people, damaging at least nine homes, a supermarket, and a motel, Mayor Joe Castelo said.

Several mobile home parks in the town were damaged, a police spokesman said.

"We were fairly fortunate," Castelo said. "We're very blessed in having no fatalities."

Once in a decade storm

CNN Meteorologist Arch Kennedy said the reason for the onslaught of severe weather was a strong jet stream moving from west to east, and strong surface winds moving north from the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting wind shear causes a turn in the air, he said.

"This is a storm system you see once in a decade," he said. "There's probably a lot of damage out there that just won't be reported until tomorrow daylight," he said. "It's really early in the game for reports."



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