Storms kill at least 20 in Ky., Indiana, and Ohio

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Powerful storms stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes wrecked several Indiana towns and killed at least 20 people Friday as the system tore roofs off schools and homes, flattened a fire station, flipped over tractor-trailers, and damaged a maximum-security prison. It was the second deadly tornado outbreak this week.

Authorities reported 14 deaths in southern Indiana, where Marysville was leveled and nearby Henryville also sustained extreme damage. Five people died in Kentucky, and one death was reported in Ohio.

"Marysville is completely gone," Clark County Sheriff's Department Maj. Chuck Adams said.

Adams added that one death was reported in Henryville and said the death toll could rise once search-and-rescue crews begin to comb through the town in daylight.

Police in Washington County, Ind., said Friday night that four people had died there.

Earlier, authorities in Indiana said four people were killed in the Chelsea area, three people died in Scott County, and two people were killed in Ripley County.

Footage from a TV news helicopter over Henryville showed showed a mangled school bus protruding from the side of a one-story building and dozens of overturned semis strewn around the remains of a truck stop.

An Associated Press reporter in Henryville said the high school was destroyed and the second floor had been ripped off the middle school next door. Authorities said school was in session when the tornado hit, but there were only minor injuries.

Classroom chairs were scattered outside, trees were uprooted, and cars had huge dents from baseball-size hail.

By nightfall, the only visible lights were from vehicles inching through town. The rural town about 20 miles north of Louisville is home to Indiana's oldest state forest and is the birthplace of Col. Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The threat of tornadoes was expected to last until late Friday in parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio. Forecasters at the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma said the massive band of storms put 10 million people in several states at high risk.

"Maybe five times a year we issue what is kind of the highest risk level for us at the Storm Prediction Center," forecaster Corey Mead said. "This is one of those days."

Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport was closed temporarily because of debris on runways, but one of three runways had reopened by late afternoon. A fire station was flattened and several barns were toppled in northern Kentucky.

Terry Sebastian, a spokesman for Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, said five people were killed in two counties Friday.

The outbreak also caused problems in states to the south, including Alabama and Tennessee, where dozens of houses were damaged. The storms hit two days after an earlier round killed 13 people in the Midwest and South.

At least 20 homes were ripped off their foundations and eight people were injured around Chattanooga, Tenn., as strong winds and hail lashed the area. Thousands of schoolchildren in several states were sent home as a precaution, and several Kentucky universities were closed. Tommy Battle, mayor of Huntsville, Ala., said students sheltered in school hallways as severe weather passed in the morning.

Five people were taken to Huntsville-area hospitals, and several houses were leveled.

An apparent tornado also damaged a state maximum-security prison about 10 miles from Huntsville, but none of the approximately 2,100 inmates escaped. Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said there were no reports of injuries.