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Tornado causes damage in Alabama
The latest number of weather-related deaths in the South comes as the National Weather Service said a tornado touched down near Birmingham, Alabama Friday, The Associated Press reported. The line of severe storms continued marching eastward Thursday, dumping torrential rain that flooded roads in Alabama and caused a mudslide in the mountains of Georgia.
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Meteorologist Jason Holmes said eyewitnesses spotted the funnel and the agency has confirmed its presence.
The Birmingham Police Department was not immediately available for comment.
A WIAT-TV reporter captured some of the devastation.
The storms caused damage to over 100 homes, mobile homes, and businesses, said the MEMA.
The Alabama tornado is the latest development in an ongoing series of storms that has hammered the South during Christmas week.
Elsewhere in the region, dozens of people faced Christmas having lost their homes and possessions.
Birmingham Mayor William Bell said there were no fatalities that they know of.
Perkins’ neighbors weren’t as fortunate.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency in areas affected by the storm, saying 14 tornadoes had touched down in his state.
First, heavy rainfall produced flash flooding in the northern counties, and there is still a flooding threat through the evening, as heavy rain continues.
The names of the victims have not been released, but the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said the deceased are a 19-year-old female and two 22-year-old males.
‘Santa brought us a good one, didn’t he?’ Bobby Watkins said as he and his wife took a walk amid the destruction in rural Benton County, Mississippi, where four people – including a married couple and two neighbours on the same street – were confirmed dead and their homes destroyed.
One person died in Arkansas, and dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed.
Dozens of people were injured in the storms, some seriously, said Greg Flynn, spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Barbara Perkins and her husband were hunkered down inside a closet when violent winds peeled the roof off their MS home.
“Until they know for sure where those folks are, they’re going to keep looking, because we’ve had in some cases houses leveled, and they’re just not there anymore”, Flynn said.
Despite being newly homeless, Perkins said the tragedy helped her “stop and realize what Christmas is all about”.
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The unseasonably warm weather that spawned deadly tornadoes on Wednesday killed six people in Tennessee. Two neighbours had died in the storm.