Tornadoes, severe weather damage businesses and homes

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - Authorities say fierce thunderstorms knocked out power to 18,000 customers across Alabama and peeled the roofs from buildings in the Mobile area.
    
Alabama Power spokeswoman Keisa Sharpe-Johnson says the outages were spread across the state, with about 8,600 in the hard-hit Mobile area. About 7,900 outages were in the western part of the state, which included Tuscaloosa, Jasper and Haleyville.

Jeff Garmon with NOAA and the National Weather Service said a survey up to just north of the Red Cross in Mobile indicates that an EF-1 tornado touched down in the area.

Mobile County Emergency Management Agency Director Ronnie Adair tells The Associated Press that the storm struck around or shortly before 5 a.m. Thursday.

PHOTOS: Severe weather pounds Mobile

Adair said there are several buildings in the Mobile area with roof damage after high winds peeled them off buildings. He said there were no immediate reports of any major injuries.

Adair said that some parked vehicles such as delivery trucks were overturned.

He said it wasn't known whether the damage was caused by a tornado, and that would be assessed later during daylight hours.

A tornado watch, scheduled to be in effect until noon Thursday, covered 28 Alabama counties.

Fox10tv.com Weather Center

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