Monster twister takes 10 members from one family

BEAUREGARD, Alabama - The youngest victim was 6, the oldest 89. Relatives said one extended family lost 10 members.

The total of 23 people killed in the nation's deadliest tornado in nearly six years came into focus on Tuesday with the release of their names by the coroner.

They included 6-year-old Armando Hernandez Jr, known as "AJ", torn from his father's arms two days after singing in his first-grade class musical; 10-year-old Taylor Thornton, who loved horses and was visiting a friend's home when the twister struck; and Jimmy Lee Jones, 89, who perished along with his wife of six decades, Mary Louise, and one of their sons.

"Just keep those families in your prayers," Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said, two days after the disaster.

The search for victims, pets and belongings in and around the devastated rural community of Beauregard continued amid the din of beeping heavy machinery and whining chain saws. But Sheriff Jay Jones said the list of the missing had shrunk from dozens to just seven or eight.

"We've got piles of rubble that we are searching just to make sure," said Opelika Fire Chief Byron Prather Jr. "We don't think we'll find nobody there, but we don't want to leave any stone unturned."

Four children were killed, ages 6, 8, 9 and 10.

The youngest, AJ, had taken shelter in a closet with his father and older brother when the tornado hit, said Jack Crisp, the boy's uncle. The punishing winds tore the family's home apart, Crisp said, and pulled both boys from their father's arms.

"He had them squeezed tight, and he said when it came through, it just took them," Crisp said. "It just demolished the house and took them."

AJ's father and brother both survived.

Elderly couple

Jackie Jones said she and her siblings rushed to their elderly parents' house after the storm passed and nobody answered the phone. "They usually answer on the first ring," she said.

The siblings found the home reduced to its foundation. One of their two brothers who lived at the house survived and was taken to a hospital. But Jimmy Lee and Mary Louise Jones, married for more than 60 years, had died along with their 53-year-old son Emmanuel.

The "monster tornado" was an EF-4 with winds estimated at 274 kph. It carved a path of destruction up to 1.4 kilometers wide in Alabama, scraping up the earth in a phenomenon known as "ground rowing", the National Weather Service said. It traveled a remarkable 110 km or so through Alabama and Georgia, where it caused more damage.

Ninety people were injured in the Beauregard area, authorities said. Most have been discharged from the hospital.

President Donald Trump said he will visit Alabama on Friday to see the damage. "It's been a tragic situation, but a lot of good work is being done," he said at the White House.

Associated Press