Rash of Tornadoes Plagues Alabama, Tennessee; 1 Dies

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Tornadoes struck in at least six places in Alabama and Tennessee on Friday, ripping apart roofs, toppling utility poles, flipping cars and uprooting a tree that killed a passing motorist.

Tornadoes touched down in four counties in Tennessee, emergency officials said. In Murfreesboro, a factory, car dealership, apartment complex and church were damaged.

Up to 100 homes in the South Ridge and Barfield communities just outside the city were damaged, as many as 40 of them severely, and there were numerous reports of gas leaks in South Ridge, where Rutherford County deputies were searching house to house to make sure nobody was trapped.

About 30 families sought refuge at Red Cross shelters in Murfreesboro and in nearby Christiana, and more than 5,000 customers were without power Friday night as temperatures dropped to the mid-30s.

Brian Clayon, a grocery sacker at a Food Lion in Smyrna, Tenn., that lost its facade and part of its roof, said: “I saw the funnel cloud go by, but nobody was hurt and that’s a miracle.”

In Tuscaloosa, Ala., a motorist was killed when a tree landed on a moving car as one of two twisters moved through the area. Part of Interstate 59 outside the city was closed because power lines were knocked down onto all four lanes of the highway.

A tornado also overturned about 50 cars in the parking lot of a strip mall, collapsing a drugstore’s roof and heavily damaging a grocery store. Smashed cars, tree limbs and other debris littered the area, but everyone there apparently escaped injury.

About 30 diners at a Chili’s restaurant waited out the storm in a cooler. The power went out briefly, but only a few windows were broken.

A television cameraman was struck by lightning while the storm front moved through Huntsville, Ala. Jeff Gray was treated at the scene and was in good condition.