U.S. storms: Death toll climbs to 18

After the twisters hit, fires were sparked at trailers and homes, and roads were blocked by debris.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and Georgia counterpart Nathan Deal also declared states of emergency in counties affected by the weather.

A flood warning was also in effect for the Coosa River, swollen by up to 8 inches of rain over the past week.

More rain is on the way this week.

On the other side of Texas, a snowstorm accompanied by plunging temperatures, was expected to leave up to 16 inches of snow in West Texas and much of New Mexico through Sunday evening, according to NWS meteorologist Brendon Rubin-Oster in College Park, Maryland.

“I think God just took care of some people in these houses”, Bentley said.

A storm on Christmas Day in 2012 which included several tornadoes damaged homes from Texas to Alabama. Homes, apartments and vehicles were also damaged, police said, but it was not clear how many people were hurt.

Stephanie Parker is the emergency manager for Ellis County, which is about 30 miles south of Dallas.

Garland Police Lt. Pedro Barineau said Sunday morning that eight people have died and 15 were injured in Garland, which is about 20 miles northeast of Dallas.

The death toll in the Southeast climbed to 22 on Saturday after less than a week of tumultuous weather – unusual warmth, tornadoes and torrential downpours – sparked flooding and caused damage that wreaked havoc during the Christmas holiday.

The storms came on the heels of tornadoes that hit two days before Christmas, killing at least 18 people, including 10 in Mississippi.

The Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles are bracing for what National Weather Service forecasters are calling a “historic blizzard“.

“I do know that they are going house to house and going through the apartments looking for people”, he said.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said 56 injuries were reported. In a statement, Flynn said preliminary damage estimates show 241 homes were destroyed or severely damaged. Severe storms are forecast for overnight tonight and into Monday as a strong cold front pushes through.

In the Dallas suburbs of Garland and Rowlett, which were devastated by tornadoes on Saturday, many residents turned to social media to tell stories of survival and to ask for help finding lost pets. Winter storms that brought ice and high winds to Oklahoma over the weekend led to snapped power lines, with 54,000 customers without power on Monday morning in Oklahoma City and surrounding areas, Oklahoma Gas & Electric said. The city of Mobile, for example, was walloped with 4 inches of rain Wednesday, smashing the previous record of 2.2 inches set in 1990.

At least 14 people are dead and dozens of families are facing a homeless Christmas.

City officials survey the damage caused by a tornado in a neighborhood in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday.

The authorities on Saturday recovered the body of a five-year-old boy who drowned after the auto he was riding in was submerged by floodwaters on Friday, said Coffee County Coroner Robert Preachers.

Red Eagle is a minimum-security correctional facility and is 3 miles north of Montgomery near the Tallapoosa River.

“Details are still sketchy”, said Jason Holmes, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The flood warning is in place until Monday.

More flooding is expected in parts of northern Alabama, and residents have been warned against driving in certain areas.

On Friday, parts of MS remained under a flood warning.

The service confirms a tornado touched down in southwest Jefferson County about 5 p.m. Friday, moving northeast toward the city of Birmingham.

Bishop says the tornado outbreak at this time of the year for North Texas occurs “from time to time… but it’s certainly not something that happens regularly”.

Early Saturday afternoon, the weather service had issued a tornado watch for seven counties in western Arkansas: Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Polk, Scott and Sebastian counties.