Relentless winds and rain hit large swaths of the south Tuesday, causing tornadoes, creating a flash flood emergency in Alabama and damaging homes from Texas to Virginia.
The storms triggered boat rescues, downed trees and power lines and raised the threat of flash floods in other parts of the region.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued the emergency for flash floods of 2 inches (5 centimeters), which would add to the already 5 inches (13 centimeters) that had accumulated in some areas, as the storm it continued to the east.
Residents of the Crescent at Lakeshore apartment complex are rescued after torrential rains that flooded multiple apartment buildings Tuesday, May 4, 2021, in Homewood, Alabama.AP Photo / Butch Dill
Jefferson County Emergency Management officials in the Birmingham area urged residents to stay off the roads because many were flooded.
In the Birmingham suburb of Homewood, residents huddled on the second-floor balcony of an apartment complex that flooded.
Fire department rescuers rowed a small boat through the parking lot, dodging submerged cars and saving at least 13 people from the flood.
Some were taken out with their pets.
[A man is crushed by a tree during tornadoes in Georgia]
Strong winds blowing behind the storms toppled trees in central Alabama, where the ground was saturated with water.
Parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, as well as corners of Arkansas and Georgia, were most at risk for the worst weather conditions, according to the National Storm Prediction Center.
That area is home to more than 11 million people
and includes the cities of Nashville, Tennessee;
Birmingham, Alabama;
Baton Rouge, Louisiana;
and Jackson, Mississippi, according to meteorologists.
The Homewood Fire and Rescue team navigates between cars through the Crescent at Lakeshore apartment complex after torrential rains hit Homewood, Alabama.AP Photo / Butch Dill
"We will see three threats for Tuesday: hail, wind and tornadoes," said Mike Edmonston, a meteorologist for the NWS in Mississippi.
The storms have been responsible for three deaths this week and more than 67,000 Mississippi and 22,000 Virginia residents were without power as of Wednesday night
, according to poweroutage.us.
Alabama Power Co. reported that some 93,000 homes and businesses are without power statewide.
[Several killed in Alabama by a wave of destructive tornadoes that keeps the south of the country on alert]
With warnings of possible tornadoes spreading from Louisiana eastward, dozens of school systems in Mississippi and Alabama sent students home early so buses and cars wouldn't have to be on the road during potentially violent weather.
Northeast Jackson, Mississippi neighbors inspect windblown trees Tuesday, May 4, 2021.AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis
A Tennessee woman was killed when a tree fell on her home as storms swept through the state Tuesday, Weakley County Emergency Management Director Ray Wiggington told WKRN-TV.
At least six mobile homes were damaged by a falling tree around 4 a.m.
[How do tornadoes form and how do you protect yourself from them at home? A meteorologist explains]
At least eight people were injured when the storms that brought tornadoes to Texas overturned trucks on an interstate and damaged structures.
Three drivers were hospitalized, one seriously injured, after their trucks rolled over in storms Monday night along Interstate 35 near Waxahachie, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Dallas, according to the authorities.
The Homewood Fire and Rescue group of rescuers navigates an apartment complex in Homewood, Alabama.AP Photo / Butch Dill
In addition to damaged truck and trailer drivers, five other people were hospitalized in Texas after the storm swept through Ellis County, an official confirmed.
County Judge Todd Little told KXAS that between 25 and 50 structures were damaged, but there were no fatalities.
[Impressive tornado strikes West Texas]
At least 11 Tennessee counties were hit Tuesday by potential EF-0 tornadoes
, according to the Fujita Improvement Scale, according to Faith Borden, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Nashville.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reported a weather-related death in Weakley County, but spokesman Dean Flene had no details on what the death had been like or exactly when it occurred.
A resident of northeast Jackson, Mississippi, walks past a windblown tree.AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis
In Jackson, Mississippi, high winds and torrential rains hit the city overnight Tuesday, causing power outages in many neighborhoods and the felling of some tree limbs.
The storms left streets full of branches and leaves.
On Monday, a falling tree brought power lines to his vehicle in Douglasville, Georgia, west of Atlanta, Douglas County spokesman Rick Martin said.
And in central Georgia, Carla Harris, 55, died after a tree fell on her Bonaire home on Monday, Houston County emergency officials said.
[A tree saves the lives of these Latinos who witnessed a tornado in Alabama]
A tornado that struck Virginia's Northumberland County near the Chesapeake Bay destroyed one home and severely damaged others on Monday.
But no one was injured, according to weather service officials.
The tornado advanced for about 5 miles (8 kilometers) and carried winds of up to 120 miles per hour (193 kilometers per hour).
A resident of northeast Jackson, Mississippi, walks past a windblown tree in his neighborhood.AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis
And on Sunday, the weather turned rough for the first time in Mississippi, where south of the city of Yazoo, Vickie Savell was left with only remnants of the new mobile home where she and her husband had moved just eight days ago.
It had risen from its foundations and moved about 25 feet (8 meters).
"Oh my God, my first new house in 40 years and it doesn't exist anymore," he lamented Monday, amid the treetops scattered across the neighborhood and the roar of chainsaws as people worked to clear roads.
A team rescues a woman trapped in the floods with her pet in Homewood, Alabama.AP Photo / Butch Dill / AP
In Mississippi, meteorologists confirmed 12 tornadoes Sunday afternoon and evening
, including the Yazoo city tornado, which spanned 30 miles (50 kilometers), and another tornado that moved through suburban Byram. and Terry south of Jackson which produced 1,000 yards (910 meters) wide damage.
On Monday, tornadoes also made landfall in South Carolina and southern Kentucky, while a possible tornado struck West Virginia.
With information from AP.
