Alabama tornado kills teenager, injures 30
Fultondale High School wrecked in the storm
FULTONDALE, Ala. – A teenager sheltering in his basement was killed and several family members were critically injured when a tornado blew a tree onto their Alabama home, police said Tuesday.
Many others narrowly escaped with their lives. At least 30 people were injured as the twister carved a 10-mile path of destruction Monday night in the northern suburbs of Birmingham, an area severely damaged by a much larger tornado a decade ago.
“We ran in the bathroom, got down in the tub and covered over with some towels, and then in about two minutes it was all over,” said Tim Herring, who said he and his wife, Patti, had just moments to prepare.
“I had to push a bunch of boards off of me and some Sheetrock. We got out, and my wife said, ‘We don’t have a roof.’ I walked in the hallway and said, ‘We ain’t got no walls either.’ I said, ‘We’re lucky to be alive, Patti,’ ” Tim Herring said.
Pieces of buildings, furniture, appliances and trees were strewn about, and vehicles came to rest in awkward positions, as if a child had scattered a collection of Matchbox cars. One car landed upside down against tree branches on a large pile of debris.
The teen, identified as Elliott Hernandez according to the Jefferson County coroner’s office, was pronounced dead at the scene, and several of his family members were critically injured when their home collapsed, Fultondale police Chief D.P. Smith said.
“They were doing what they were supposed to be doing,” the chief said. The 14-year-old killed was in the ninth grade, according to Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Walter Gonsoulin.
Search-and-rescue efforts continued in neighborhoods where it was difficult to tell where houses had stood. Across the wrecked landscape, every visible structure was damaged or destroyed. Pieces of buildings and children’s toys and clothing were scattered across the hilly terrain littered with broken trees. Utility lines had fallen on roads. Some houses had entire roofs missing.
Fultondale Fire Chief Justin McKenzie said 18 of the 30 people injured had to go to hospital. Six others were pulled uninjured from damaged structures Tuesday morning.
The school superintendent said the system is trying to determine how many students may be homeless now. Fultondale High School was so heavily damaged that he doubts students can return to classrooms this year.
Police blocked intersections leading to the hardest-hit areas of Fultondale, a suburb that’s home to about 9,000 people. Downed power lines and debris closed part of Interstate 65 while workers removed the obstacles, said James Coker, director of the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency.
“The people of Fultondale took a hard hit last night – I’m grieved over the loss of life, injuries, homes & damaged businesses,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said on Twitter. “I offer my prayers & deepest sympathies & pledge the full support & resources our state has to offer. I am with you, Fultondale!”