Twisters Hit Down South

(CBS)  It's tornado season Down South, where the risk of deadly funnel clouds is at its worst from March through May.

Twisters swept through the Florida Panhandle on over to southwestern Georgia early Thursday, killing two people and injuring at least 17 others, one critically.

One tornado touched down at about 4 a.m. in Wausau, Florida, some 90 miles west of Tallahassee, not far from the Alabama border. A 59-year-old man was killed and his wife critically injured when the storm destroyed their mobile home. She was taken to Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan, Alabama, where she died.

At least ten other people were injured in Florida, where damage was worst in the Buckhorn Community, in Washington County, and in the Round Lake area, in Jackson County.

CBS News Affiliate WTVY-TV Reporter Mike Gurspan says homes and barns were destroyed, trees were uprooted, and power lines torn down.

Washington County Sheriff Fred Peel says ten homes, most of them mobile homes, were destroyed or badly damaged.

"It was unbelievable what it did to them," says Peel, who adds it will be several days before power is fully restored.

At least two homes and a business were damaged in Jackson County.

In southwestern Georgia, the twister hit at 6:30 a.m., destroying at least a dozen homes and barns in Whigham and Climax, neighboring towns in Grady and Decatur counties, about 30 miles north of Tallahassee.

A 76-year-old woman from Whigham is in critical condition at Memorial Hospital in nearby Bainbridge, Georgia, where her 79-year-old husband is also being treated. He is listed in fair condition.

At least five other people in Georgia suffered less serious injuries.

Severe storms left their mark in two other southern states earlier this week.

Monday, a tornado in Red Level, Alabama, 25 miles north of the Florida border, killed a woman and her 12-year-old granddaughter and tore a house right off its foundation.

Wednesday, a suspected tornado damaged trailer homes and rooftops in Pattison, Texas, about 40 miles west of Houston.

Hailstones as large as golf balls were reported, trees and power lines were torn down, but no injuries were reported.



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