ATLANTA (AP) — Claudette was regaining strength early Monday and expected to return to tropical storm status as it neared the coast of the Carolinas just days after 13 people died — including eight children in a multi-vehicle crash — due to the effects of the storm in Alabama.
The children who died Saturday were in a van for a youth home for abused or neglected children. The vehicle erupted in flames in the wreck along a wet Interstate 65 about 35 miles (55 kilometers) south of Montgomery. Butler County Coroner Wayne Garlock said vehicles likely hydroplaned.
The crash also claimed the lives of two other people who were in a separate vehicle. Garlock identified them as 29-year-old Cody Fox and his 9-month-old daughter, Ariana; both of Marion County, Tennessee.
Multiple people were also injured.
Additionally, a 24-year-old man and a 3-year-old boy were also killed Saturday when a tree fell on their house just outside the Tuscaloosa city limits, said Capt. Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit. Makayla Ross, a 23-year-old Fort Payne woman, died Saturday after her car ran off the road into a swollen creek, DeKalb County Deputy Coroner Chris Thacker told WHNT-TV.
A search was also underway for one man believed to have fallen into the water during flash flooding in Birmingham, WBRC-TV reported. Crews were using boats to search Pebble Creek.
Early Monday, Claudette had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph), the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. The depression was located 55 miles (90 kilometers) south-southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina, and moving east-northeast at 20 mph (31 kph), forecasters said.
The depression was forecast to become a tropical storm sometime Monday morning over eastern North Carolina. Claudette is then on track to move into the Atlantic Ocean, then travel near or south of Nova Scotia on Tuesday.
Rainfall totals around 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 centimeters) are forecast for parts of Georgia and the Carolinas. Tornadoes were also possible Monday morning across the coastal Carolinas.
A tropical storm warning was in effect in North Carolina from the Little River Inlet to the town of Duck on the Outer Banks. A tropical storm watch was issued from South Santee River, South Carolina, to the Little River Inlet.
The van in Saturday’s crash was carrying children ages 4 to 17 who belonged to the Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch, a youth home operated by the Alabama Sheriffs Association.