Saturday, March 03, 2012

37 Deaths from Tornadoes in Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama and Indiana

An early season severe weather outbreak occurred as a strong cold front combined with a strong upper-level jetstream generated several tornadoes yesterday and this morning that killed at least 14 people in Indiana, one in Alabama, 17 in Kentucky and 3 in Ohio. Tornado watches and warnings were posted this morning in Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

In Kentucky, the official death toll from Friday's storms stood at 17 as of late Saturday morning, authorities said. Four were reported dead in each of Morgan County and Laurel County, three in Kenton County, and two each in Menifee, Johnson and Lawrence counties, according to state authorities. All of the counties are in eastern Kentucky.
In Morgan County, about 80 miles east of Lexington, several trailer parks were overturned and other buildings were severely damaged, according to Specialist James Moore of the Army National Guard. Nearly 22,000 people were without power in the state. Of Kentucky's 120 counties, 13 reported tornado damage and an additional 27 reported storm damage. More than 200 Kentucky National Guardsmen are helping emergency workers in five counties. Three people died in Ohio, all in Clermont County in the state's southwest, said Tamara McBride, a spokeswoman for Ohio's Emergency Management Agency. She said the county had suffered "significant damage," but it wasn't yet clear early Saturday exactly how severe. No one was unaccounted for, and the death toll in the state wasn't expected to rise, she said.
 


















George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist for Wright Weather Consulting, LLC. Our website is WrightWeather.com. George is also a meteorologist with ABC News and Cablevision News 12.