Jan Wesner Childs
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A mother and her son were killed when a tree fell on their house in Alabama as severe weather ripped across parts of the South overnight.
Officials in Montgomery County said the incident happened around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday in the community of Flatwood, on the north side of the city of Montgomery.
The victims were a 39-year-old woman and an 8-year-old boy, Capt. Leigh Persky, spokesperson for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, told The Weather Channel Wednesday morning. Persky said a 51-year-old man with severe injuries was transported from the scene.
"Our prayers are with our Montgomery County neighbors who have been affected by last night’s tornado outbreak," Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed tweeted.
(WATCH: Drone Reveals Damage After Possible Tornado Rips Roof Off Apartment Building)
Montgomery County Emergency Management Director Christina Thornton said several other people were also injured in the county and there were multiple reports of downed power lines and trees on homes, according to WFSA-TV.
Family members console each other outside a damaged mobile home on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022, in Flatwood, Alabama, the day after a severe storm swept through the area. Two people were killed in the community just north of the city of Montgomery.Fallen trees heavily damaged homes and blocked a road in nearby Elmore County, east of Montgomery.
“We were very fortunate getting just property damage that we know of," emergency management director Keith Barnett told The Weather Channel. "That’s bad enough but at least there’s no loss of life.”
A high school was damaged in Fruitdale, Alabama, in the southwest part of the state and U.S. Highway 45 there was closed because of debris on the road.
"Fruitdale High School has received extensive damage and school is cancelled through Friday," a Facebook post on the school's website read.
(MORE: The Dangers Posed By Nighttime Tornadoes)
All other schools in Washington County, where Fruitdale is located, were expected to reopen Thursday.
“It looked like a bomb went off in here there’s so much debris," one Fruitdale resident told The Weather Channel, surveying the wreckage around his home.
Pianos from a neighbor's home were in the man's yard. Besides the high school, a church and other buildings were damaged.
“It’s just unreal, what it looks like," he said. "You can’t wrap your mind around it, from yesterday to today. But that’s just the power of Mother Nature."
This aerial image shows roof damage to the Sagewood Apartments after an apparent tornado, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022, in Eutaw, Alabama.More than 15,000 power outages were being reported across Alabama as of about 12:15 p.m. EST Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us. That was down from about 40,000 earlier. Outages in neighboring Mississippi had dropped from 10,000 to less than 2,000. About 3,700 homes and businesses remained without power in Louisiana.
Those three states bore the brunt of dozens of reports of tornadoes, high wind and hail that stretched from Texas to Kentucky Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
Local news reports said at least two peoplewere injured in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, where homes sustained extensive damage.
"Thank the Lord that no one was killed and please remember our friends that were injured and lost their homes in your prayers," a social media post from the Caldwell Parish Sheriff's Office said.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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