A tornado touched down on Lookout Mountain near Mentone, Ala., late Saturday night.

Several residences were blown away and several people injured as the twister cut a swath across the mountain.

Doug Hoyt, an accountant who has several Chattanooga clients, said he and his wife, Dael, dived for shelter as the tornado blew past.

He said, "We could hear it pass while we hunkered down in the bathroom."

Mr. Hoyt said the tornado cut a path through a mobile home park owned by one of his clients and demolished it.

He said, "The destruction was unreal. It was on County Road 106 just outside of the Mentone limits."

It blew away a house across the street from the mobile home park, leaving only pieces and the foundation.

Mr. Hoyt said, "The amazing thing is although all the homes were occupied, and some people were seriously hurt, no one was killed.

"The owners of the house were found in a field. The man was thought to have a broken pelvis, but the wife was not hurt - even though their home was demolished.

"Many in the mobile homes had cuts and abrasions - with one having a punctured lung and broken bones."

On Sunday afternoon, relatives said the man who was injured in the house was David Lushbaugh, a Vietnam veteran in his 60s. He remained in the house, though his wife, Ola, and a friend of the couple tried to run for it to a nearby basement.

The relatives said Ola and the friend were in a field when the tornado hit and it rolled them along, but they were not seriously hurt.

However, Mr. Lushbaugh was swept along with his devastated house and had more serious injuries. He was taken to Erlanger Hospital.

Relatives said he had a number of war memorabilia as well as several collections, including coins and old records. Broken vinyl records were strewn through the yard and a buffalo nickel was found in the road in front and returned to the relatives.

Stan Lawton, owner of the trailer park, said he only had insurance on three of 10 trailers. Only two were relatively unscathed by the fierce storm.

He said seven or eight people from the trailer park were treated and released. One man had more serious injuries and was taken to a hospital in Huntsville.

Mr. Lawton said the storm came up so quickly that the residents did not have time to take shelter elsewhere.

He said he could hear the tornado coming shortly before midnight.

"It sounded like an 18-wheeler in low gear coming up the mountain. Then it seemed to split into two parts."

He said one house on Highway 117 was undamaged, though trees were uprooted on both sides.

There was also extensive damage at the nearby Laurel Creek subdivision.