A tornado that carved a path of destruction across Autauga County on Thursday turned deadly when it leveled part of a community known as Old Kingston.
Autauga County Emergency Management Director Ernie Baggett said the seven confirmed fatalities happened in Old Kingston, along Autauga County 140 in the central part of the county.
At a press briefing this morning, Baggett said he did not yet have a breakdown of the victims by age. He said he did know if there were any children.
Baggett said the deaths involved more than one household in Old Kingston, but did not know how many.
Stephanie Brown’s home was one of those destroyed on Autauga County 140.
Brown said her brother, Solomon Smith, lived in a home nearby and died in the tornado. Brown said Smith was 50. She said Smith’s stepson was injured and was being treated at UAB Hospital.
Brown said she was in Montgomery taking care of some business on Thursday when the tornado hit.
“The next news I got, my brother was dead and we didn’t have a house,” Brown said.
Brown was at the site of her destroyed home Friday morning. A friend retrieved a worn Bible from the wreckage and gave it to Brown, who was in her vehicle.
Brown said the tornado destroyed the home of another brother who lives nearby, but he was not at home when the storm struck, she said.
In addition to Old Kingston and County Road 140, there was heavy damage on Autauga County 57 and County and on Autauga County 68 near where it intersects U.S. 31.
Baggett said emergency teams were nearing the end of the search and rescue phase.
“We think we’re getting to the point where we’ve located everyone and been able to get a handle on where everybody is,” Baggett said.
“So that’s why I think in the next maybe four or five hours we should be able to shut that part of this down.”
Baggett said he knew of about a dozen injuries that required hospitalization. He did not yet know how many homes were damaged but estimated that about 40 were damaged to the point that they could not be lived in.
Baggett said the EMA was tracking the storm Thursday as it moved into the county after striking Selma.
“It kind of picked up just a little bit as it crossed the line,” Baggett said.
“It came back down here in the Old Kingston area. And then it started moving up, roughly County Road 68 over into Elmore County. So we have about a 20-mile path that we’re trying to track down right now.”
Baggett praised the Autauga County school system’s response to the storm, which he said hit the county about 2:30 p.m.
“Our school system did a really good job on making sure that the kids weren’t dismissed early, which would have put them out in the middle of this storm,” Baggett said.
“Or possibly put them at home during this event. So their quick thinking and wisdom really I think averted us having a much higher count than what we do.”
Baggett said it was an unusual tornado for January.
“It was a little bit different to go out and survey a tornado of this size this time of year,” Baggett said. “That’s a real uncommon event. Normally, we see smaller, short-track tornadoes at this time. So, for one to be this large and for this long-lived is unusual.”
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