Pope prays for Alabama tornado victims as Trump prepares to visit
Pope Francis said he was praying for the dead and injured of the Alabama tornado.
Pope Francis has sent condolences to tornado victims in Alabama and US President Donald Trump will visit on Friday.
Twenty-three people were killed and dozens more were injured when the powerful tornado ripped through Lee County. The youngest of those killed was six and the oldest was 89.
“We’ve got piles of rubble that we are searching just to make sure,” said Opelika Fire Chief Byron Prather Jr. “We don’t think we’ll find nobody there, but we don’t want to leave any stone unturned.”
At the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was praying for the dead and injured of the Alabama tornado, saying he is spiritually close to all those who are suffering and grieving.
Francis prayed for peace and strength for the survivors, and that God “may grant eternal rest to the dead, especially the children, and healing and consolation to the injured and those who grieve”.
The tornado was an EF4 with winds estimated at 170mph and carved a path of destruction up to nine-tenths of a mile wide in Alabama, scraping up the earth in a phenomenon known as “ground rowing”, the National Weather Service said.
It was the deadliest tornado to hit the US since May 2013, when an EF5 twister killed 24 people in Moore, Oklahoma.
