As darkness gave way to morning light, officials in Lee County, Alabama — where the deaths occurred — were assessing the extent of the destruction left in the wake of Sunday’s storms and were sorting through the debris in hopes of finding survivors.
At least one child was among the dead, officials said, and all of the fatalities occurred in the same general area, just south of the city of Opelika.
“We had several families that have probably lost everybody in their whole family,” Bill Harris, the Lee County coroner, told CNN on Monday.
The ages of those who died range from under 10 to the 70s and 80s, Harris said. He also relayed reports that at least 20 people were unaccounted for.
Dozens of people were sent to hospitals Sunday with injuries, with at least two in critical condition. The East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika had received more than 60 patients as of Sunday night, according to John Atkinson, a spokesman for the center.
The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday that at least one tornado at least a half-mile wide had touched down in the southern part of Lee County, with winds of 136 to 165 mph. Tornadoes were also reported to the south and east in Georgia and Florida.
Sheriff Jay Jones of Lee County, speaking to CNN on Monday morning, said,"We have not had anything quite like this in our area ever, that I know of.”
Sunday’s weather was a “fairly classic” pattern for March, where colder air mixes with warmer air, said James Spann, the chief meteorologist for WBMA television, the local ABC affiliate. Tornadoes are common this time of year in “Dixie Alley,” the nickname given to the Southern states vulnerable to severe weather, he said.
“This is clearly the biggest loss of life we’ve had in my state in a while,” he said. “In fact, we had more deaths in Lee County, Alabama, today than the entire United States last year.”
In 2018, 10 people were killed by tornadoes in the United States.
“It’s been very quiet,” Spann said. “We knew it’s been too quiet for too long.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.