Tornado Cleanup Under Way in South

Thousands of work crews took to the streets across Georgia and Alabama on Sunday to clean up from a barrage of powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes that wrecked dozens of homes and knocked out power to 600,000 utility customers.

Some 38,000 homes in Alabama and 14,000 in Georgia remained without power Sunday as utility crews worked to clear away fallen tree limbs and replace downed power lines, authorities said.

At the height of Saturday’s storms, 500,000 homes were without power in Georgia, mostly in the Atlanta area. The storms cut electricity to 112,000 homes across Alabama.

Up to 13 tornadoes and straight-line winds to 90 m.p.h. tore through the South on Saturday, killing at least four people and injuring scores of others. Tornadoes were reported in Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, Florida and South Carolina, the National Weather Service said.

“This really qualifies as the worst storm we’ve had since 1973,” said Tripp Cagle, a spokesman for the Georgia Power Co. “We’re hoping we can get everyone on by Sunday night.”

More than 2,000 cleanup crews from sheriffs’ departments and other law enforcement agencies were clearing debris and downed trees all over Georgia, officials said.

The weather service said the most serious tornado struck in south Cobb County in suburban Atlanta, leveling six homes and damaging 44 others in one subdivision. The weather service said the tornado’s winds reached 115 m.p.h.

Four people in the Atlanta area were killed by falling trees.

In Alabama, Lawrence Bowden of the state Emergency Management Agency said a damage survey showed more than 300 mobile homes and houses were destroyed and as many as 50 businesses were either destroyed or damaged. A dollar estimate on the damage had not yet been made, he said. More than 40 people were injured, nine requiring hospitalization.

Some homeless Alabamians were put up in shelters Saturday night but most stayed with relatives, Bowden said.

In the Pacific Northwest, another wave of Pacific storms pushed ashore in Washington and Oregon, triggering heavy rains and snow above 500 feet. A half-inch of rain soaked the coastal town of Astoria, Ore., during a six-hour period.

Storms over the last two weeks have dropped 85 inches of snow over the Washington Cascades, forecasters said.

Winds gusting to 60 m.p.h. prompted the weather service to post high wind warnings for eastern Washington. High wind warnings also were in effect for parts of Idaho and Montana.

Showers and thunderstorms produced locally heavy rain in southern Florida. Nearly an inch of rain fell at Ft. Myers and a half inch at Vero Beach during a six-hour period.