Search continues for missing 2-year-old boy after South Georgia tornado

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

As the storm hit about 3 p.m. Sunday, Detrez Green slipped away from his mother and went to the kitchen area, which “was completely destroyed due to a large oak tree falling through it,” the county said.

The boy’s mom, Adijah Rainey, did not see Detrez “leaving the home or being swept away,” according to the emergency management agency.

Officials with the Albany and Dougherty police departments learned about the missing child Sunday night, the county told The AJC.

Police, who were later joined by officials from Albany-Dougherty County Search and Rescue, conducted aerial and ground searches for Detrez but did not find him, officials said.

“At this time, teams have searched the entire home, including up under the tree that fell through the home,” the county said.

Crews searched surrounding homes and a field to the west of the property.

“Due to the dense brush to the east of the property, teams have ... cut paths into the debris field to clear a way for cadaver and live search dogs into these areas,” the county said. “The cadaver dogs and live search dogs have been through the mobile home, fields, and the paths with negative results at this time.”

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Officials have not released a picture or a description of Detrez.

However, they said “a huge community of people are out today to try to find this child.”

No foul play is suspected at this time, officials said.

The National Weather Service confirmed Monday evening that an EF-2 tornado hit parts of Albany. On the tornado ranking scale, a five is highest. A survey team concluded the tornado path was a half-mile wide with at least 111- to 135-mph winds.

On Tuesday, the federal government approved an emergency request for assistance for the first wave of storms. An Albany spokesman said Gov. Nathan Deal’s office notified the city that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has confirmed it will receive federal help after the Jan. 2 storms, which caused $50 million in damage.

State Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens on Tuesday estimated that this weekend's storms did at least $100 million worth of damage.

Teri Totten, a volunteer with the American Red Cross of Georgia, saw the recent devastation in Albany on Monday.

"It's overwhelming to know what these people have gone through,” she said. "You have to put a shell around yourself to do the job and help them."

Four people were killed in the tornado, Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler said. He identified two of the victims as Paul Freeman and Oscar Reyna.

RELATED: How to help

Freeman, 82, lived in a house behind Big Pines Estates mobile home park and died when debris fell on the house. Reyna, 39, died in his home in Big Pines Estates.

Credit: Branden Camp

Credit: Branden Camp

About 65 miles southeast of Albany, five women and two men between the ages of 18 and 62 were killed when their mobile home park in Adel was flattened, Cook County Coroner Tim Purvis told The AJC.

At that same mobile home park, the Sunshine Acres Mobile Home Park, five people went missing. Four of them have been found alive, U.S. Rep. Austin Scott’s office said.

Cook Emergency Management Director Lamar Ray said Monday homeowners can return to their homes Tuesday if it is safe. About 45 homes were damaged and 36 of them are mobile homes, The Associated Press reported.

Berrien and Brooks counties each reported two deaths, officials told The AJC.

From early Saturday to Sunday night, 39 possible tornadoes were reported across the Southeast, Patrick Marsh of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., told The AP. Of that number, 30 were reported in Georgia.

Georgia averages 20 tornadoes a year.

The deadly storms led Gov. Deal to declare a state of emergency in 16 Georgia counties.

— Saff writers Greg Bluestein, James Salzer and Joshua Sharpe contributed to this article.