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School was warned hours before tornado

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 3, 2007

ENTERPRISE, Ala. - Administrators at a high school where eight students died in a tornado were warned about severe weather nearly three hours before the twister struck, raising questions Friday about whether classes should have been dismissed earlier.

Residents of the neighborhood surrounding Enterprise High School said they heard warning sirens long before the tornado slammed into the building, crushing the victims in an avalanche of concrete and metal.

"It came real fast, but they had plenty of time to get those kids out because sirens were going off all morning," said Pearl Green, whose 15-year-old niece attends the school and was hit in the head by a flying brick.

But school officials said they had no chance to evacuate earlier because of the approaching severe weather. And others said the carnage would have been greater if students had been outside or on the road when the storm hit.

Gov. Bob Riley defended administrators' actions after a tour of the school.

"I don't know of anything they didn't do," Riley said after stepping out of the collapsed hallway where the students died. "If I had been there, I hope I would have done as well as they did."

Mitch Edwards, spokesman for the Alabama Board of Education, said the state has a plan requiring schools to conduct weather drills and review safety plans. But the decision on whether to close schools is left to superintendents and principals.

"It's a situation where local superintendents and principals are in position to make the best call," he said. "They try to react based on the best information available."

The students were among 20 people killed Thursday by tornadoes in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. President Bush planned to visit storm-damaged areas today.

[Last modified March 3, 2007, 01:18:36]