A system of powerful storms packing tornadoes passed from Alabama into southwest Georgia, hitting a hospital and causing at least three deaths, a state official said.
In Sumter County, two people were reported killed and an undetermined number injured by the storm, which damaged the county's main hospital, Buzz Weiss of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency said late Thursday.
Sumter County deputy sheriff Eric Brown said he could not confirm the fatalities but that the storms had knocked out power to the entire city and part of the rest of the county. He said there were injuries but he did not know how many.
Weiss said it appeared that a tornado hit Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, but that officials there were unsure whether the injured and the dead were inside the building at the time.
Hospital spokesman Ed Farr said by telephone that the building was struck by a tornado but that there was no time to discuss details.
"We're trying to move patients and trying to stabilize things for our patients," Farr said. "Call back in the morning."
Weiss said the information on the deaths came from state emergency management field coordinators working with the Sumter County emergency management agency. He said he was not sure if the deaths were at the hospital but "they were associated with the tornado that struck the hospital."
Weiss said that farther north in Taylor County, there was one death reported and four injuries, but he had no details on exactly how the injuries occurred _ just that they were storm-related.
"We also have reports of injuries in Muscogee County. We have no details on nature of injuries or the number," he said. A Taylor County sheriff's dispatcher said there was extensive storm damage in the county but the number of deaths or injuries was unknown.
Weiss said between 40 and 60 homes were damaged in Clay County, south of Muscogee along the Chattahoochee River on the Alabama line.
In Muscogee County, which is Columbus, the National Weather Service said a twister struck about 6 p.m.
The storm knocked out power to 15,000 homes in Columbus and another 3,200 across the Chattahoochee in Phenix City, Ala., damaged some buildings and toppled trees into streets.
Source: AP News
