Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 21 March 2018
Storms strike college, leave trail of damage across South

By BRYNN ANDERSON were without electricity.
JAY REEVES Forecasters had warned
Associated Press that the storms would
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (AP) — threaten more than 29 mil-
With violent weather plow- lion people, raising the risk
ing through the Southeast, of powerful tornadoes,
the kitchen windows ex- damaging winds and hail
ploded at Richard Brasher's the size of tennis balls.
home in eastern Alabama. Cities in northern Alabama
Using couch cushions for reported power outages
protection, Brasher hid in and the National Weather
the bathtub with his wife, Service in Huntsville report-
daughter and two grand- ed at least three confirmed
children as the storm tornadoes in the area.
passed near Jacksonville The National Weather Ser-
State University. The roar vice said five teams were
was terrifying, Brasher said: out in Alabama assessing
"I thought we were gone," storm damage.
he said. The weather service was
Officials suspected a tor- also sending survey crews
nado was to blame for the to at least two Georgia
damage there. With electri- communities to investigate
cal transformers exploding whether tornadoes caused
and trees crashing down Mark Tenney helps in the cleanup of his neighbor Bob Walters' house, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in widespread damage to
all around, Brasher, 60, Ardmore, Ala., after a violent storm went swept through the area the night before. homes there.
said it felt like wind "picked (Jeronimo Nisa/The Decatur Daily via AP) In one neighborhood near
up and shook the whole Atlanta, "it looks like some-
house." the hardest hit and thou- dents were away for spring lots of automobile dealer- one did a bombing run
"We were scared to death. sands of buildings and ve- break. ships were full of cars and down the street," Georgia's
It blew the paint off my hicles were battered by Part of the roof was ripped trucks that no longer had insurance commissioner,
house," he said. large hail after the night of off the nursing school and windows. The sheriff shared Ralph Hudgens, said after
The storm threatened mil- violent weather. Pete Mathews Coliseum, a a photo of a county jail touring the scene Tuesday.
lions of people across the Several shelters opened, 3,500-seat basketball are- bombarded by hail but Multiple homes were de-
Deep South, prompting tor- schools were closed, trees na. Pieces of lumber and said the prisoners were fine. stroyed in the subdivision
nado warnings Monday in and power lines were bent metal covered the Schools were closed in sev- southwest of Atlanta, he
Mississippi, Alabama and down Tuesday morning. ground along with insula- eral counties because of said.
Georgia. The area around Jacksonville State advised tion that looked like yellow damage. Alabama Power They put the Bible against
Jacksonville State University people to avoid traveling cotton candy. Co. said more than 9,000 the door and they put the
in Alabama was among near campus. Most stu- To the west in Cullman, the homes and businesses children in the tub.q

Northeast braces for wintry wallop on 1st day of spring

By KRISTEN DE GROOT bore down on the North- grumbled and complained sleet was expected to driven me a little mad," she
WAYNE PARRY east on Tuesday, with about a first day of spring wallop New Jersey, Mary- said on Philadelphia's South
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — wind-whipped snow fall- that looked an awful lot like land, Delaware and parts Street. "Mother Nature, let's
Spring? What's that? ing in parts of Pennsylvania the last weeks of winter. of eastern Pennsylvania get some warm weather!"
Yet another powerful storm and New Jersey as people Landscaping crews along Wednesday before head- Cancellations mounted at
the New Jersey coast tend- ing toward Cape Cod airports from Washington
ed to shrubs and plants at early Thursday, the fourth to Boston — more than 500
oceanfront homes, then nor'easter to slam the re- Tuesday and more than
packed up their garden gion in three weeks. 1,600 Wednesday. On
Paradise in the Caribbean tools to get ready to plow. In Philadelphia, where the the ground, Amtrak said it
Shore towns positioned snow blew horizontally on would scale back service
bulldozers, front-end load- Tuesday, restaurant server on the Northeast corridor
ers and other heavy equip- Katy Halbeisen called the and Pennsylvania banned
ment to deal with beach early-spring storm "pretty certain types of trucks from
erosion from a system that lame." major highways starting
could dump up to 18 inch- "Yesterday I was walking Tuesday night.
es of snow elsewhere. Air- around and saw little birds Public and parochial
lines canceled flights and taking a bath and it looked schools in Philadelphia
schools canceled classes in like they were thinking it were to be closed Wednes-
what has become a dreary would be spring. So I feel day. Widespread power
March routine. bad for those little birds," outages were possible, es-
"It's ridiculous," Bob Burkhard she said. pecially Wednesday, with
of Toms River, New Jersey, Dog walker Emily DiFiglia gusts blowing up to 35 mph
said near the beach at said she'd had enough of (56 kph). Four nor’easters in
Seaside Park. "First day of winter. three weeks is highly unusu-
spring and we're getting "I'm outside all day long. al, but it happens when a
SALES OFFICE +297 2801005 info@leventaruba.com another snowstorm." So having the weather pattern locks in. And that’s
MOBILE +297 5927275 www.leventaruba.com The bulk of the snow and constantly fluctuating has happened, Hurley said. q