UPDATE: Severse Storm destroys skating rink full of preschoolers

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Pastor Dale Morgan

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Nov 15, 2006, 5:59:14 PM11/15/06
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*Perilous Times and Global Warming

UPDATE: Severse Storm destroys skating rink full of preschoolers*

POSTED: 2201 GMT (0601 HKT), November 15, 2006

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- Lines of powerful thunderstorms pelted the
South with heavy wind, rain and hail Wednesday, turning a skating rink
into a hulk of twisted metal soon after the 31 preschoolers and four
adults inside had fled to the only part of the building that turned out
to be safe.

One child suffered a broken bone and another a cut to the head. But
everyone else emerged unharmed from the crumpled wreck of the Fun Zone
Skate Center in Montgomery, Alabama. The facility doubled as a day-care
facility.

"I'm amazed that anyone got out of there," said Montgomery Mayor Bobby
Bright.

Several states were battered by the storms, which unleashed tornadoes
and straight-line winds that overturned mobile homes and
tractor-trailers, uprooted trees and knocked down power lines. At least
one person was killed and several injured. (Watch witnessess describe
the storms' fury -- 2:15 Video)

Authorities were unsure whether it was a tornado that hit the skate
center about 10:15 a.m.

Jon Slaughter, who owns two nearby businesses, arrived at the skate
center with two employees about five minutes after the building was
ripped apart.

"What I saw was just utter destruction," Slaughter said. "The children
were scared, they were cold and dirty. They were crying and upset, but
really they were calmer than I thought they would be."

The manager of the day-care center operating inside the building had
made everyone get into the section of the building that survived the
high winds.

"She may have saved many of these children's lives," the mayor said.

The damage was so severe some witnesses were in disbelief that everyone
inside could have walked out. Two people crawled under the beams and
wreckage looking for kids, but everyone already was out.

"I wasn't panicked until I saw the building," said Russell Grant, who
showed up to take home his 5-year-old son, Justin, after hearing what
had happened.
Storms, tornadoes tear through South

Dozens of buildings were damaged in four southwestern Mississippi
counties and across the state line in three Louisiana parishes.

At least one tornado cut a path about 2 miles wide and up to 4 miles
long in Greensburg, Louisiana, toppling trees and damaging buildings and
power lines, said Maj. Michael Martin of the St. Helena Parish Sheriff's
Office. One man was killed when his home, a trailer covered by a wooden
structure, was destroyed, he said.

In Mississippi's Lamar County, emergency operations center director
James Smith said a possible tornado struck a subdivision outside Sumrall
at about 2:50 a.m.

"It appears to be a tornado from the reports of damage we've received --
including 11 destroyed or damaged homes -- and from the track," Smith said.

Smith said six people were taken to hospitals from the Sumrall area, and
the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said two other people were
injured in Greene County.

Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, devastated last year by Hurricane
Katrina, heavy rain flooded streets and closed some schools. City Hall
in Biloxi suffered roof and water damage, and Mayor A.J. Holloway told
The Sun Herald it appeared that a small tornado had touched down in the
area.

As the storms moved eastward, as much as 4 inches of rain fell in
southern Alabama, flooding some homes, authorities reported. A tornado
that hit a community in rural Pike County destroyed a volunteer fire
department building and knocked down a water tower, flooding the area
where it landed, a sheriff's official said.

A possible tornado tore through a community south of Montgomery,
toppling trees, overturning a mobile home and knocking out power at a
school. Storms overturned trailers in the southeast Alabama town of
Elba, injuring several people, police investigator Tony Harrison said.

In Arkansas, the thunderstorms toppled tractor-trailer rigs along
Interstate 40 in Arkansas, and police said at least four people were
hospitalized. Authorities said a hotel near Wheatley had structural damage.

The storms caused flash flooding in Arkansas, including the Little Rock
area, where police said they rescued two people who escaped high water
by climbing trees.

More than 3.5 inches of rain fell at Little Rock, including more than an
inch in 20 minutes at the city's airport, the weather service said. Hail
the diameter of quarters pounded areas west of the city.

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