KEY POINTS

  • 18 Alexandria schoolchildren were safely evacuated from a daycare to a church just 10 minutes before the tornado destroyed the building they were in
  • A woman died a day after celebrating her 59th birthday when the tornado overturned the trailer she was in
  • Mississippi and Alabama states were also devasted by the tornado which is a part of a winter storm system that swept through the US on Tuesday

18 schoolchildren in Alexandria, Louisiana narrowly escaped a tornado just before it destroyed the school they were in.

Upon receiving the alert, teachers immediately evacuated the children from the school and daycare they were in to a nearby church.

The tornado hit just 10 minutes after the area was evacuated and the school building was destroyed and reduced to piles of wood and metal.

CBS News

reported that the students hid under the pews and fire rescue crews wrapped them up in towels and blankets afterwards and walked them safely away from the wreckage.

The tornado blew about 63 miles across the state.

In Vernon Parish, Louisiana, a woman named Bettie Patin died just a day following her 59th birthday when her trailer overturned.

“You just wonder why things happen,” Debbie Brister, Patin’s cousin told CBS News. “And you just don’t take life for granted because somebody can be gone in just a second.”

A deadly string of at least 27 tornadoes devastated several US states on Tuesday.

The tornado outbreaks were part of a winter storm system that first hit the Midwest and extended into the Northeast on Tuesday.

About 130 miles northeast, another tornado swept through Edwards, Mississippi while destroying a Baptist Church, among 35 other establishments, in Gunpoint, Mississippi.

A police dispatcher reportedly said that several people were injured but their conditions are still unknown.

Emergency response teams were dispatched to search for people amidst the damage as electrical power is yet to return to the city.

On a Dec. 16 report by CBS News, 11 deaths were reported in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri and three additional deaths in north western Alabama, which included a husband and wife was reported early Wednesday.

tornado
In this image, a rain shaft is visible as a supercell thunderstorm develops near Clovis, New Mexico, May 9, 2017. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Storm