We’re wrapping up our live coverage, but if you’re looking for more on the aftermath of Sunday’s deadly tornadoes, you can…
One of the deadly tornadoes that ripped through Lee County, Alabama, left a track almost a mile wide.
The EF-4 tornado also brought 170 mph winds.
The path of destruction from the EF-4 is at least 24 miles long, said Chris Darden, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service’s Birmingham office.
The path was likely longer, because the twister crossed into Georgia. Officials there are still assessing the damage, Darden said. He estimated the track was .87 miles wide.
Taylor Thornton, a fourth grader in Alabama, was killed by a tornado on Sunday, Dr. Stan Cox, head of school for Lee-Scott Academy, told CNN.
Taylor was in the middle of her first year as a student at the private school in Auburn, Alabama. Cox met with her parents Monday, who confirmed the news of her death. Her age was not immediately reported.
Classes were canceled today due to the significant amount of damage surrounding the school, Cox said. Other students lost homes or suffered property damage.
Here’s a statement about Taylor’s death on the school’s Facebook page:
CNN shot this drone footage of the destruction left after tornadoes swept through parts of Alabama.
See the aftermath:
Here are a few more photos of the damage:
At least three children were killed in Lee County on Sunday as tornadoes swept through the area, county coroner Bill Harris said at a news conference this afternoon.
They were 6, 9 and 10 years old, he said.
The youngest victim was identified as 6-year-old Armando Hernandez, family member Sara Crisp told CNN.
The National Weather Service in Birmingham gave the deadly tornado that hit Lee County a preliminary EF4 rating on the scale that measures tornado intensities.
The Enhanced Fujita scale uses the physical damage caused by the storm to estimate how fast the wind was blowing. The scale runs from 0 to 5.
Winds in the Lee County tornado were estimated to be 170 mph.
“Preliminary EF-4 Tornado Damage has been found along County Road 39 just east of Cave Mill Road in southwestern Lee County,” the NWS tweeted Monday afternoon.
The youngest victim of Sunday’s deadly streak of tornadoes that hit Lee County was identified as 6-year-old Armando Hernandez, his family member Sara Crisp told CNN.
Armando, who was known to his family as AJ, was described as “a precious little man that was loved by everyone” who “was always eager to give hugs and loved his family,” his aunt Tina Melton said in a Facebook post.
Armando’s family also lost their home in the tornado.
Lee County Emergency Management Agency officials are set to hold a news conference in Opelika, Alabama, at 2 p.m. ET. They’ll give an update on recovery efforts following yesterday’s devastating storms and tornadoes.
Gov. Kay Ivey is expected to attend.
Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said all but six of the confirmed 23 dead have been identified.
Officials were working to confirm identifications of the remaining six through fingerprints, and, if necessary, DNA, Harris told CNN.
Officials are now working with two to three people who are unaccounted for, however Harris said it was difficult to provide an accurate count of those missing. (An earlier count had at least 26 people missing).
Here’s how Harris explained it:
President Trump expressed his condolences to those affected by the deadly tornadoes in Alabama.
The President, speaking at a White House event today, said he and first lady Melania Trump send “our love and prayers to the incredible people of Alabama” and “everyone affected by the catastrophic” tornadoes.
Trump said the tornadoes were “of a force like we haven’t seen in a long time.”
“Probably nobody made it out of that path, that path was brutal,” Trump said.
He expressed his grief and unwavering support for the community of Lee County, noting that he spoke with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey this morning.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is “there in full force,” and “whatever we can do, we’re doing,” Trump said.
The President went on to say was a time for Americans to cherish their families and “unite as one nation.”
The deadly tornadoes that struck Alabama on Sunday killed at least 23 people and injured dozens more.
Search and rescue crews are still looking for the missing in the rubble. In Lee County, many homes are destroyed, with just slabs left behind.
There are ways you can help the tornado victims right now.
You can donate to the American Red Cross of East Alabama, which is providing shelter, food and water for the families.
For more information about how you can help the victims of the Alabama tornadoes, please visit CNN Impact.
The governors of Florida and Maryland offered assistance and tweeted messages of support after a series of tornadoes ripped through Alabama, killing at least 23 people in one county.
Read their tweets below:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan
The Opelika campus of the East Alabama Medical Center received 60 patients yesterday — but only four remain hospitalized as of 11 a.m. ET Monday, according to hospital spokesperson John Atkinson.
Atkinson declined to provide information on the condition of the four patients.
Meanwhile, the hospital’s Valley campus received just one tornado victim.
Scott Fillmer took two videos of the destruction in Beauregard, Alabama. He told CNN that “whole groves of trees are completely gone.”
Fillmer said there were just minutes between when he learned the tornado was approaching and when it hit. Here’s how he put it:
Take a look at his footage of the damage:
Alabama wasn’t the only state hit with devastating tornadoes yesterday.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued a state of emergency in Grady, Harris, and Talbot Counties in southern Georgia after a series of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms ripped through the area Sunday night.
Kemp is expected to take an aerial tour of affected areas around 1 p.m. ET.
Here is the radar imagery of one of the tornadoes that hit the southeast yesterday. The clip shows the tornado as it moved through Lee County, Alabama, Sunday.
Here’s what it all means: The left shows the reflectivity of the precipitation in the air. You can see a hook form just below Tuskegee at the beginning of the clip. Then curls into a ball halfway between Tuskegee and Smiths — This is the tornado.
The right side shows winds within the storm. The green area shows wind moving towards the radar; the red shows the moving away. Meteorologists look for couplets — or green and red right next to each other — to see the rotation in the storm. The radar operator can query the exact winds blowing towards and away. In this case, there was a very strong couplet of winds over 140mph
There is another product called the Correlation Coefficient (shown on the left of this image) that tells the meteorologist if there is anything lofted into the air. In this case at 3:08 (ET) you can see the debris lofted into the air indicated by the ball of blue on the left of the image.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said she has spoken to both President Trump and FEMA Administrator Brock Long since the deadly tornadoes ripped through her state yesterday.
She added that she talked with Long about resources the state needs.
Here are her tweets:
Vinton Copeland, pastor at Powell Baptist Church in Talbotton, Georgia, inspected damage in the town after deadly tornadoes swept through Alabama and Georgia on Sunday.
He told CNN:
Copeland said people in Talbotton did not expect the tornado to hit the town. “The news only reported specifically about rural Alabama and all of a sudden it hit us quickly. We couldn’t have planned for this.”
“I saw it coming and we hid in the bathroom and after we noticed we were ok we reassembled in the living room.”
“Then some of us went out to assess damage and that’s when I recorded the video.”
“4 of my members lost their homes. 2 of them homes have been decimated, 2 others have major damage from trees. Others with patches in their roofs and power outages.”
The National Weather Service in Birmingham has sent out three survey teams to assess tornado damage in multiple locations in Alabama across Lee, Macon and Barbour Counties.
At least a dozen tornadoes touched down in Alabama and Georgia on Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Lee Country, Alabama, seemed to be the hardest hit: It appeared that two tornadoes hit the county back-to-back within the span of an hour. At least 23 were reported dead.
Here’s a look at the preliminary tornado reports:
