Staff and wire reports
A tornado killed a woman and her 9-week-old infant and also injured dozens Friday in central Tennessee as a line of storms lifted homes, ripped off roofs and dumped hail in the Southeast.
Elsewhere, a tornado touched down in southwestern Kentucky, injuring two people and destroying homes. A possible tornado was reported in northeast Alabama.
At least 41 people were hurt in Rutherford County, Tenn., four of them critically, in the aftermath of a storm system that killed three in western Arkansas a day earlier.
Large hail also began falling in several North Carolina counties as the line of severe thunderstorms moved in from the far western part of the state.
In Rowan County, a lightning strike to a Woodleaf Road house was called in to the Rowan 911 Center at 6:44 p.m. after the homeowner noticed an odor of smoke in the basement. The Franklin Fire Department responded to the scene.
Later in the evening, lightning is believed to have struck an electrical substation on the property of the Hanesbrands mill in China Grove. Firefighters from the China Grove Fire Department and several surrounding departments ó including Atwell, Locke, Kannapolis and Salisbury ó responded to the scene after a light haze of smoke was reported inside the mill, but no fire was found.
Heavy rains left plenty of water standing along streets around the county Friday night.
The National Weather Service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., on Friday afternoon said hail the size of nickels, pennies or quarters was reported in Cabarrus and Cleveland counties and near downtown Charlotte in Mecklenburg County.
Meteorologist Doug Outlaw said a big line of severe storms near Chattanooga, Tenn., and north of Atlanta was pushing east, causing severe lightning in the extreme western part of the North Carolina mountains.
Outlaw said stormy weather was possible in Graham, Swain, Haywood, Macon, Clay and Cherokee counties Friday night. A tornado warning was issued for Clay and Cherokee counties.
In Tennessee, dispatchers at the Rutherford County Emergency Management Agency said the area was “heavily impacted” after several eyewitness reports of a tornado on the ground around 12:30 p.m. “I think we’re right in the middle of tornado alley these days,” said Dan Goodwin of the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department.
In Murfreesboro, 30 miles southeast of Nashville, at least three dozen homes were destroyed.
Kori Bryant, in her mid-20s, and 9-week-old Olivia Bryant were identified as the dead.
“They were found outside of the residence,” rescue official Randy White said. “It looked like they were trying to get to the car. The infant was in a car seat.”
Amy Jones, 32, was at work at State Farm Insurance when she heard that her house had been leveled. She was stunned when she got to the scene and saw that the 1,800-square-foot home with a garage was lifted completely off the foundation and dropped on her neighbor’s home.
“My house is on top of someone else’s house. It’s surreal,” Jones said.
Joe Spencer, 23, a student at Middle Tennessee State University, said he had only moments to react but survived a direct hit on his house.
“I was going to open the door to see what was going on and I looked straight at a tornado,” Spencer said.
He yelled at his brother to take shelter in one of the home’s bathrooms and then ran to the other, jumping into the bathtub while holding his dog, LLoyd.
“The bathtub started shaking, and I just tried to grab ahold to anything I could. I grabbed the nozzle and turned on the water,” Spencer said. Hours later, he was still wet up to his knees.
Spencer, his brother and dog were shaken but uninjured. Outside, the storm’s power was apparent. The roof over the living room of the house was gone and the rest of the roof was caved in.
In Kentucky, a tornado destroyed the home of Robert Huggins, 65.
“We heard it coming,” Huggins said. “We went to the garage door and it got louder and louder. It was like a freight train like everybody says.”
Huggins said his son told him to hit the ground when debris started flying, then his son and another man fell on top of him.
“When we stood up, there wasn’t anything left,” he said. It only took about three minutes, he said, and his 2,500-square-foot home was gone.
His daughter-in-law, who was inside the home, was thrown about 70 feet and was taken to the hospital. He said his 10-year-old grandson, who was also in the home, suffered only bruises.
Several possible tornadoes were reported in north Georgia as heavy rain, hail and winds downed trees and power lines in the state. Flights were delayed for up to 90 minutes at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as dark gray clouds swirled in from the west.
On Thursday night, a black funnel cloud descended on the western Arkansas hamlet of Mena, killing at least three, injuring 30 and destroying or damaging 600 homes.
Polk County, Ark., Sheriff Mike Oglesby said search-and-rescue teams had combed through the city’s downtown Friday and a neighborhood just west that sustained the brunt of the storm without finding any other victims. The sheriff said he had no reports of anyone else missing in the city of 5,700 in the Ouachita Mountains.
An initial survey of the damage suggests the tornado packed winds of at least 136 mph, weather service forecaster John Robinson said Friday.
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Associated Press writers Kristin M. Hall in Murfreesboro and Lucas L. Johnson II in Mannington, Ky., contributed to this report.