Winter Storms, Deadly Twisters Pound Nation
Dec. 16 -- As the nation’s midsection faced subzero wind chills andanother bout of snowfall, tornadoes bore down on Alabama today, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens.
A band of twisters ripped acrossAlabama, the deadliest of them killing 10 people as it torethrough a Tuscaloosa trailer park and an upscale neighborhoodnearby.
Multiple Tornadoes
Tornadoes also struck three far-flung locales, tearing apartscores of homes in Geneva, at the southern edge of the state, andin rural Etowah and Limestone counties in the north.
The worst devastation was in a sprawling trailer park just southof Tuscaloosa, where most of the victims were found. Mobile homeswere blown into mangled piles, some unrecognizable among thedebris.
“We are still trying to find out how many are unaccountedfor,” said Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton. “There werepeople out there Christmas shopping and all. We just don’t knowwhere they are.”
Airport Delays
Meanwhile, heavy winds and freezing temperatures pounded the Midwest and West.
At airports across the country, stormy weather caused major delays and cancellations.
For the third time this week at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, United Airlines canceled flights. Today, it was 50 percent of them, stranding thousands of unhappy passengers.
“It’s just another day of hassles. I just don’t like it,” said one traveler.
“We get here, it says ‘on time.’ We’re excited,” said another. “We’re going to talk to somebody and they say go to a skycap, check in your bags. I’m there. I got my tickets and then ‘canceled.’ It’s so frustrating.”
Subzero Temperatures
Freezing rain and snow is falling in a number of states. But frigid temperatures are causing the most concern. In Fargo, North Dakota, residents were advised to stay indoors because of dangerously cold temperatures.
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