Weather Delays Search for Sailors in Alabama

Storms have put a temporary halt to the U.S. Coast Guard's efforts today to find four people who disappeared after hurricane-like weather struck a regatta in Alabama this weekend.

"We've covered about 3,000 square miles," Coast Guard Capt. Duke Walker said, "but safety is my biggest concern. ... We continue to search as opposed to recover. [We] still have the hope for the best thing to happen."

The Coast Guard said it planned to resume the search for the sailors in the next hour.

More than 100 sailboats and about 200 people were participating in the 57th annual Dauphin Island regatta, held in Mobile Bay, Alabama, when the storm hit Saturday. Sailboats overturned, leaving many stranded in the water, authorities said. Good Samaritans and local authorities assisted in the rescue efforts. The number of sailors was not known.

Susan Kangal, 52, said the wind was so strong and moved in so quickly that her boat nearly capsized.

"It [the wind] went from probably 15 to 20 mph to 73 mph. It just shot off the charts," she told the Associated Press. "It was frightening."

Joshua Edwards' family got caught in the storm after the 18-mile race ended. He said what started as a day of fun quickly took a turn for the worse when relatives said they saw a twister. His mother, who was at the helm of the vessel, even lost her life jacket to the screaming winds. It took the Edwards family five white-knuckle hours to make it back to Alabama.

Edwards told ABC News today that despite the warnings in Saturday's forecast, the circumstances were not considered dangerous for experienced sailors. Nearly 60-mph winds and reported 10-foot waves pushed him and his crew eight miles out of their way as they passed other boats in distress.

The bodies of two sailors were found, according to the state's Department of Public Safety, but their names and the names of the missing had not been released. The sailors were located along the shoreline and in the bay.

Authorities had originally said that five people were missing but one person was found at home. More than 40 people had been rescued since Saturday.

Officials said today they were checking 10 submerged vessels and had cleared several others.