Survivors Describe the Devastating Alabama Tornadoes

One of the men killed was a survivor of the Oak Grove twister that hit in April 2011 killing 240 people. Residents of Oak Grove were hit particularly hard again with Monday's tornado. Ironically, officials had to reschedule a meeting to receive a study on Alabama's response to the spring tornadoes.

Watch an Alabama resident give his account of living through two devastating tornadoes within nine months:

Here is another account from Clay, Ala., survivors:

According to the Daily Mail, Bobby Franks Sims, 82, from Oak Grove and Christina Nicole Heichelbech, 16, from Clay, were killed in the storm, Jefferson County sheriff's spokesman Randy Christian said. The Birmingham News has more:

Sims' manufactured home was thrown off its foundation and neighbors said he and his wife Janice were thrown out of it. The Jefferson County Coroner's Office said Birmingport Fire crews found Bobby Frank Sims about 50 yards from the home and pronounced him dead on the scene. His wife was taken to Princeton Baptist Medical Center.

Here's more footage from the area where Heichelbech was reportedly killed:

Some homes in the area were flattened, windows were blown out of cars and roofs were peeled back in the middle of the night in the rural communities near Birmingham. The Birmingham News reports that in the Clay area about 170 homes are reported as destroyed, while 50 are moderately damaged.

Though the tornadoes have been confirmed by the National Weather Service, the Birmingham News reports in a separate article, the extent to which the twisters were on the ground will not be announced until later today or tomorrow. But, the Birmingham news reports one meteorologist as saying it was on the ground for a long time:

It appears, however, it was a single tornado that traveled from Tuscaloosa, through Jefferson County and into St. Clair County during a two-hour stretch beginning about 2:30 a.m., said meteorologist Mark Rose.

"It's a very long time for one tornado to be on the ground," Rose said. "It's possible it could have lifted up, and touched back down, but we won't know for sure until the survey crews report back.

A second storm system moved into Chilton County about 5 a.m., causing widespread damage there as well. Authorities believe that, too, was a tornado but said they likely won't have that confirmed until Tuesday.

As dawn broke, residents surveyed the damage and officials used chainsaws to clear fallen trees. Check out 360 panoramic damage of the storm here (via Ryan Russel/ The Weather Channel).

"Some roads are impassable, there are a number of county roads where you have either debris down, trees down, damage from homes," said Yasamie Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

Here one resident chokes up as he talks of his family's fortunate survival:

Watch this news report from the Clay area:

The storm system stretched from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, producing a possible tornado that moved across northern Jefferson County around 3:30 a.m., causing damage in Oak Grove and other communities, Christian said.

Here a weatherman describes what happened during the storm:

As day broke, searchers went door-to-door calling out to residents, many of whom were trapped by trees that crisscrossed their driveways.

In Clay, northeast of Birmingham, Stevie Sanders woke up around 3:30 a.m. and realized bad weather was on the way. She, her parents and sister hid in the laundry room of their brick home as the wind howled and trees started cracking outside.

"You could feel the walls shaking and you could hear a loud crash. After that it got quiet, and the tree had fallen through my sister's roof," said Sanders.

The family was OK, and her father, Greg Sanders, spent the next hours raking his roof and pulling away pieces of broken lumber.

"It could have been so much worse," he said. "It's like they say, we were just blessed."

In Clanton, about 50 miles south of Birmingham, rescuers were responding to reports of a trailer turned over with people trapped, City Clerk Debbie Orange said.

Also south of Birmingham, Maplesville town clerk Sheila Haigler said high winds damaged many buildings and knocked down several trees. One tree fell on a storm shelter, but no one was injured, Haigler said. Police had not been able to search some areas because trees and power lines were blocking roads.

In Arkansas, there were possible tornadoes in several areas Sunday night. The storms also brought hail and strong winds as they moved through parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois and Mississippi.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.