It's Really Serious Out Here': Alabama Tornado Adds to Christmas Woes

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (TheBlaze/AP) — A Christmastime wave of severe weather continued Friday as a tornado touched down in Jefferson County, Alabama, including through the southwest portion of Birmingham, the state's largest city.

Witnesses spotted the funnel outside the city about 5 p.m. An hour later, the National Weather Service confirmed that first responders were on the scene along Jefferson Avenue in a working class neighborhood of Birmingham.

The storm was continuing to move eastward.

"Details are still sketchy," said Jason Holmes, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The Birmingham Police Department was not immediately reachable for comment.

A WIAT-TV reporter captured some of the devastation.

"It's really serious out here ... absolutely a mess out here," said the reporter, Stephon Dingle.

Dingle said that he was told only one person had been taken to the hospital and noted there were no reports of missing people thus far.

The Alabama tornado is the latest development in an ongoing series of storms that has hammered the South during Christmas week.

Elsewhere in the region, where the weather had calmed, dozens of people faced Christmas having lost their homes and possessions. But many they said they were thankful to see another Christmas.

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