Hailey Hart and her fiancé Steve Romero hunkered down with their three huskies inside their 1994 Toyota Celica as a tornado ripped apart their home Saturday in Tylertown, Mississippi.
Romero said he prayed out loud and hugged Hart as the car rolled onto its side, windows shattering, before it landed on its wheels again. After the twister passed, they could hear people nearby screaming for help.
“It was a bad dream come true,” Romero said.
Next door, Hart’s grandparents crawled out from the rubble of their destroyed house after they sought shelter in a bathroom as falling trees collapsed the roof.
“Everything was coming down on us,” said Donna Blansett, Hart’s grandmother. “All I could do was pray to God to save us.”
They escaped with just a few scratches and aches. Family members, friends and volunteers spent Sunday removing debris and salvaging anything they could find - some damp clothes, a photo album and a few toiletries.
“I’m so happy you’re alive,” Hart said through tears, as she embraced her grandmother on Sunday.
The National Weather Service said tornado watches had mostly expired, but dangerous winds were still possible in the Carolinas, east Georgia and northern Florida through Sunday evening.
The dynamic storm that began Friday earned an unusual “high risk” designation from weather forecasters. Still, experts said it was not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.
At least three people, including an 82-year-old woman, were killed in central Alabama when multiple tornadoes swept across the state.
In Troy, Alabama, parks officials said the recreation centre where many residents had taken refuge had to be closed due to damage from overnight storms. No one was injured.
Missouri resident Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing trapped neighbours found five bodies scattered in rubble on Friday night outside what remained of his aunt’s house in hard-hit Wayne County. Scattered twisters killed at least a dozen people in the state, authorities said.
In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves announced that six people died and more than 200 were displaced after tornadoes sowed devastation across three counties. And in the northern part of the state, roads were inundated and some people were stranded by flood waters.
Wind-driven wildfires caused extensive damage in Texas and Oklahoma and officials warned on Sunday that parts of both states would again face an increased risk of fire danger in the coming week.
More than 130 fires were reported across Oklahoma and nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed, Governor Kevin Stitt said.
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Keli Cain said two people were killed as a result of wildfires and weather.
Meanwhile, dust storms spurred by high winds claimed almost a dozen lives on Friday.
Eight people died in a Kansas highway pileup involving at least 50 vehicles, according to the state highway patrol. Authorities said three people also were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle. (AP)
