A 6-year-old child was among 23 killed in a tornado outbreak across Georgia and Alabama on March 3.
Armando Hernandez, known as AJ, became separated from his mother when the tornado hit Beauregard, Alabama.
His mother, Kayla Melton, posted on Facebook about finding her son.
Armando Hernandez, six-years-old, has been identified as the youngest victim of the Alabama and Georgia tornado that…
Posted by COED on Monday, 4 March 2019
“Please look for my baby, he’s six years old, his name is Armando Hernandez, he goes by AJ. Last seen on Lee Road 38. Anyone in the area please help me find him please!” she wrote, reported The Guardian.
His death was later confirmed by others on social media.
“Little AJ didn’t make it. He was found but he didn’t survive… He was always eager to give hugs and loved his family,” Tina Melton, a relative, wrote on Facebook. “They are headed to the children’s hospital with his brother. They also lost their home in the tornado with all belongings. Fly high AJ. You have your wings,” the Daily Mail reported.
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said that the death toll will likely rise. Earlier, he described the devastation wrought by the tornado as “catastrophic.” He said, “Unfortunately, we anticipate the number of fatalities may rise as the day goes on.”
“We’ve done everything we feel like we can do this evening. The area is just very, very hazardous to put anybody in to at this point in time – debris everywhere and it’s just…just some mass damage to structures and residences in the area,” Jones told WSFA, adding that more people are missing.
Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said the victims range in age from children to adults, the report said.
Family members confirmed the death of an 8-year-old girl following the tornado outbreak.
The tornadoes ripped through the state’s Lee County on Sunday with winds of at least 150 miles per hour, at the midpoint of the five-step Enhanced Fujita scale, which meteorologists use to measure tornado strength, Reuters reported.
More than 50 people were reported injured and the death toll is expected to rise, authorities said, which could make the storms deadlier than the tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013, killing 24 people.
“It looks almost as if someone took a giant knife and just scraped the ground. There are slabs where homes formerly stood, debris everywhere, trees are snapped,” Jones elaborated. “I’ve not seen this level of destruction ever in my experience in Lee County.”
FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes. @GovIvey, one of the best in our Country, has been so informed. She is working closely with FEMA (and me!).
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019
On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted: “To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!”
And the next day, the president tweeted that he personally told FEMA to give “A Plus treatment” to victims of the Alabama tornado outbreak.
Rita Smith, a spokeswoman for the Lee County emergency management agency, told the Guardian: “We’ve got about 150 first responders out there. They are doing a phenomenal job.”
About 40,000 people in Georgia and Alabama were left without power in the wake of the storms.
Reuters contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
