A storm system that stretched nearly 1,000 miles from the Midwest to the Southeast on Thursday killed at least 20 people in three states, including eight who died when what appeared to be a tornado caused the roof to collapse at a high school in Enterprise, Ala., state emergency management officials said.Two other people were killed in Alabama, nine in Georgia and one in Missouri.
Students at Enterprise High School had just been ordered to take cover in hallways when fierce winds bore down at 1 p.m., plunging them into darkness and pounding them with falling debris.
“The ceiling part fell on us and rocks hit me on the back,” said Ezekiel Jones, 17, a senior who was in the gym when the apparent tornado struck. “I was thinking of my mom, my girlfriend, my sister and my friends. Everybody was screaming.”
Steven Carter, 16, a junior, said he was in the science wing when the lights went out.
“It happened fast,” Steven said. “There wasn’t much warning.”
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