Claudette regains tropical storm strength with 13 people dead
Claudette regained tropical storm status on Monday morning as it neared the coast of the Carolinas less than two days after 13 people died, including eight children in a multi-vehicle crash, due to the effects of the storm in Alabama.
The children who died on Saturday were in a van for a youth home for abused or neglected children. The vehicle erupted in flames in the wreck along a wet Interstate 65 about 35 miles (55km) south of Montgomery. The Butler county coroner, Wayne Garlock, said vehicles probably hydroplaned.
The crash also claimed the lives of two other people who were in a separate vehicle. Garlock identified them as 29-year-old Cody Fox and his ninemonth-old daughter, Ariana; both of Marion county, Tennessee.
Multiple people were also injured. Additionally, a 24-year-old man and a three-year-old boy were also killed on Saturday when a tree fell on their house just outside the Tuscaloosa city limits, said Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit. Makayla Ross, a 23-year-old Fort Payne woman, died on Saturday after her car ran off the road into a swollen creek, DeKalb county officials told WHNT-TV.
A search was also under way for one man believed to have fallen into the water during flash flooding in Birmingham.
Crews were using boats to search Pebble Creek.
On Monday morning, Claudette had maximum sustained winds of 40mph (65km/h), the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The storm was located 65 miles east-southeast of Raleigh, North Carolina, and moving east-north-east at 25mph, forecasters said.
The storm was expected to move into the Atlantic Ocean later in the morning, then travel near or south of Nova Scotia on Tuesday.
A tropical storm warning was in effect from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to the town of Duck on the Outer Banks.
“An isolated tornado is possible early this morning over parts of the Outer Banks,” said Brad Reinhart, a specialist with the National Hurricane Center. “By afternoon, we expect the system to be well offshore.”
Meanwhile, a radar-confirmed tornado swept through suburban Chicago, damaging homes, toppling trees, knocking out power and causing some injuries, officials said.
At least four injuries were reported in Naperville, where a dozen homes were damaged and numerous large trees were downed by a probable tornado late on Sunday, according to a report to the National Weather Service. The injuries reportedly weren’t considered life-threatening.
Officials in the nearby village of Woodridge said a tornado touched down late on Sunday and a damage assessment was under way. There were no reports of significant injuries in the community, but people were urged to avoid the area due to downed power lines and trees.