Tornado Warning For Tallahassee After Deaths In Alabama, Damage In Georgia

A tornado warning was issued in many parts of north and central Florida, Sunday, after a powerful twister claimed the lives of 14 people as it passed through southeast Alabama and caused excessive damages to Southeast Georgia.

The latest set of warnings include Tallahassee, Wacissa, Cross City, Dekle Beach, Steinhatchee, Port Saint Joe, Crawfordville, Perry, Monticello, Aucilla, Drifton and many more. A complete map of the areas of Alabama, Georgia and Florida where the warning was issued was posted on the Twitter page of National Weather Service Tallahassee:

"There's a squall line moving through the area," Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, said, 6ABC reported. "And when you have a mature line of storms moving into an area where low-level winds are very strong, you tend to have tornadoes developing. It's a favorable environment for tornadoes.”

Harrigan added that in the aftermath of the tornado, a portion of Interstate 10 on the Florida Panhandle was temporarily blocked in one direction in Walton County. Meanwhile, the number of people experiencing power cuts in Florida continue to rise. According to a power outage map, over 1,600 Gulf Coast Electric customers and over 2,500 Talquin Electric customers were without power in the state. Over 8,000 people remain without power in Georgia.

An outbreak of tornadoes was noticed Sunday afternoon after a severe weather system crossed the southeast region of the nation toward the Atlantic seaboard. Lee County in Alabama was one of the worst hit in the state, with multiple casualties and damages to properties that were termed “catastrophic.”

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones confirmed that 22 people were killed so far as a result of the tornado. “And again the search continues. We still have some people that are reported missing. The challenge is the sheer volume of the debris where all the homes were located. It’s the most I’ve seen that I can recall," he said, NBC-affiliated WFLA reported.

Although Jones refrained from divulging exactly how many people were feared missing, he did add that the death toll could potentially rise as they continue to scan the local communities in the county. Lee County Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Rita Smith said about 150 first responders rushed to the scene to aid in search and rescue after the storm hit. “We’ve still got people being pulled out of rubble,” Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said. “We’re going to be here all night.”

The East Alabama Medical Center put out a statement confirming it was treating over 40 patients as a result of Sunday’s tornado.

Meanwhile, major damage was reported in downtown Cairo, Georgia. Although there were no immediate reports of deaths, several residential as well as commercial buildings were destroyed and there were emergency crews responding to residents being trapped inside their homes. “It’s pretty bad,” Cairo Mayor Booker Gainor said, Tallahassee Democrat reported. “We have a lot of trees down, debris and power lines. We have trees completely through houses. You would think a hurricane came after this, the way it looks.”