BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A line of storms swept across the Southeast with 70 mph winds and possible tornadoes, killing two people in their mobile homes in north Alabama, authorities said today.
The severe weather knocked down trees, power lines and damaged homes Sunday night in Georgia and Alabama. The National Weather Service in Huntsville said the storms struck six counties in the Tennessee Valley.
Thunderstorms, rain and possibly more severe weather was forecast today for the Southeast coast.
In Morgan County, Ala., Robert Irwin, 63, apparently was sitting on a couch in his mobile home watching television coverage of the storms when two trees crashed down and killed him, Coroner Russ Beard said.
“He probably never did see anything coming,” Beard said. Irwin’s son was in another part of the mobile home and not hurt, Beard said.
In adjacent Marshall County, a storm blew a mobile home across a road, throwing a couple out of it, Coroner Marlon Killion said. Janice Salters, 58, was killed and her husband, Wayne Salters, was seriously injured, Killion said.
To the south, the weather service said it was investigating possible tornadoes in Hale, Russell, Shelby and Blount counties.
Forecasters said hundreds of trees were blown down in Hale County southwest of Birmingham, and flash floods covered roads across north Alabama.
In Georgia, a child was cut and bruised when a tree fell onto the roof of a house in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. At least a dozen homes were damaged.
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