Tornado Lifts House, Drops It on Road

Amidst the tornadoes that ripped through the southeast Sunday and Monday, a scene reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz: A Georgia home was torn from its foundation and flung 50 to 100 yards away, where it landed, intact, in the middle of a road. No one was inside at the time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. But the rest of the news from the Easter night tragedy was dire: Storms, which also triggered floods and mudslides, killed at least 33 across the southeast, destroyed and damaged buildings, and left 1.3 million homes and businesses without power, NBC News and the AP report.

The tragedy came atop the coronavirus pandemic, leading many to seek safety from tornadoes in community shelters as they wore protective masks and were forced closer than six feet apart (Alabama's governor suspended social distancing rules due to the storm). Mississippi's governor called the storms "as bad or worse than anything we’ve seen in a decade." And Georgia's governor said many who lost their homes had just lost their jobs due to the pandemic: "Now they have lost literally everything they own." (A family of four was saved by their "safe room.")