NEW ORLEANS -- Authorities in Alabama say a suspected tornado kicked up by Tropical Storm Claudette demolished or badly damaged at least 50 homes in a small town just north of the Florida border.
Sheriff Heath Jackson in Escambia County said a suspected tornado "pretty much leveled" a mobile home park, toppled trees onto houses and ripped the roof off a high school gym. Most of the damage was in or near the towns of Brewton and East Brewton, about 48 miles north of Pensacola, Fla.
"It kind of affected everybody," Jackson said. "But with those mobile homes being built so close together, it can take a toll on them a lot more than it can on houses that are spread apart."
There were no immediate reports of serious injuries or deaths. Photos of the Brewton area posted on Facebook show toppled trees, including one that landed on a house, as well a long stretch of debris that a news outlet said was from a badly damaged trailer park.
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The storm's effects also were felt in north Florida, where winds -- in some cases reaching 85 mph -- flipped an 18-wheeler on its side.
The National Hurricane Center declared Claudette organized enough to qualify as a named storm at 4 a.m. Saturday, well after the storm's center of circulation had roared ashore southwest of New Orleans.
By Saturday afternoon, it was 80 miles north-northwest of Mobile, Ala., with sustained winds of 40 mph. It was moving north-northeast at 14 mph. Most of the heavy weather was happening far to the north and east of the center.
Early Saturday, the storm dumped flooding rains north of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana and along the Mississippi coast, inundating streets and, in some areas, pushing water into homes. Later, the storm was drenching the Florida panhandle and, well inland, a broad expanse of Alabama. The National Weather Service warned of possible tornadoes in north Florida and south Alabama.
Parts of inland Mississippi and Georgia were getting heavy rain from Claudette as well. And even though the storm was weakening, the National Hurricane Center issued a tropical-storm watch for parts of the North Carolina coast, which could feel the effects by tonight. The storm was forecast to cross into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, and regain tropical-storm strength over open water Tuesday.
Residents of Pace, Fla., called 911 to report a possible twister that tore the roofs off two homes and damaged at least three others.
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"Nobody's hurt," said Sarah Whitfield, spokeswoman for Santa Rosa County. "We're just thankful it happened after sunrise," not overnight as people slept.
An 18-wheeler hit several utility poles and flipped on its side during the storm early Saturday. Debris from the accident, including a collapsed utility pole, turned into projectiles and struck a passing SUV, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The accident report said wind gusts of 85 mph were clocked in the area. Highway Patrol officials were to close both lanes of the Interstate 10 bridge between Escambia and Santa Rosa counties because of high winds.
The county received two calls about trees falling onto homes, but no one was home at the time.
The storm left tens of thousands without power and some flights were canceled or delayed at Pensacola International Airport
"We have a lot of visitors that are here vacationing," Whitfield said. "Red flags flying out at the beaches, so there's absolutely no swimming."
Forecasters said Claudette could dump 5 to 10 inches of rain in the region, with isolated accumulations of 15 inches possible.
"We've got little squalls running through. It'll rain really, really hard for a few minutes and slack up for a few minutes," Glen Brannan of the Mobile County, Ala., Emergency Management Agency said early Saturday.
Residents of Slidell, La., north of Lake Pontchartrain, reported flooded streets and water in some neighborhoods as the storm pushed onshore overnight. Slidell police said the flooding had largely receded by daybreak, after swamping as many as 50 cars and trucks.
Most people riding out the storm still had electricity when they woke up Saturday. The website poweroutage.us reported roughly 22,000 failures across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Information for this article was contributed by Kelli Kennedy of The Associated Press.
