Two deaths attributable to weather were reported Saturday in MS: two people who have been missing since Wednesday, bringing that state’s toll to 10.
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Severe flood warnings in parts of UK as Army helps
Around 50-80mm is due to fall this morning, with more than 100mm (4in) likely to come down over higher ground across the day. The Government has also warned that there could be flooding in Wales, Herefordshire and Shropshire over the festive period.
Some survivors of deadly storms across the Southeast lost their homes and belongings, but say they’re thankful to see another Christmas.
2 men sentenced to death over backpacker killings in Thailand
Both men later retracted their confessions, saying they had been coerced by the police. Miss Witheridge and Mr Miller met on Koh Tao while staying at the same hotel.
“He and I just huddled together and saw trees fly past us, and a shipping container flip over”, Ables said. High winds and heavy rain had caused a large tree to uproot and fall onto a house.
Southern storms survivors thankful to see Christmas
The bad weather is also due to hit – or has hit – the states of Kentucky, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Alabama. There were four confirmed tornadoes, including two in Wayne County, that touched down and caused damage during the storms.
In Arkansas, an 18-year-old woman was killed Wednesday morning when a tree fell through the roof of her house in Atkins.
Why? Because his mother and sister, who were home when the twister hit, weren’t hurt.
The search for missing and dead has been complicated by people having left for Christmas.
Four were killed in Benton County, Mississippi, including a husband and wife, both in their 60s, officials said.
More than a dozen tornadoes were reported in MS, and in the town of Clarkdale, hundreds woke up Thursday without homes for the holidays. Exactly a year ago, tornadoes hit MS, killing five people and injuring dozens.
They were not identified, but the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said the three dead confirmed Thursday were two 17-year-old males and a 16-year-old female.
MS authorities said that some 40 people were injured in the six counties that bore the brunt of the storms, and that a seven-year-old boy was among those killed.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service warned that the central United States “will continue to have widespread showers and thunderstorms this weekend”.
The violent weather is believed to be a result of unseasonably warm weather across the USA, with such storms normally expected in spring rather than at Christmas.
Bobby Watkins, from Arkansas’ Benton County, told the Associated Press: “Santa brought us a good one, didn’t he?”.
More severe weather was also in store for parts of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee that were again being pounded with rain.
Tornadoes are possible in parts of Alabama north of the I-20 corridor, with other damaging winds of up to 60 miles per hour possible.
Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at the national Storm Prediction Center, said that the threat of severe weather just before Christmas is unusual, but not unprecedented. A statement from the governor’s office said that about 190 roads across Alabama were closed due to flooding.
At least six people have been killed across the country as fierce spring-like storms hit Wednesday.
“If you go through these neighbourhoods, there are a lot of people very proud of what they’ve put out and they’ve got stuff everywhere – all these ornaments and deer and everything else”, Clements said.
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Contributing to this report are Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Dallas, Chevel Johnson in New Orleans, Jonathan Landrum in Atlanta, and Dylan Lovan in Louisville.
