Death Toll Rises to 11 After Tornadoes, Storms Ravage South

Perry County Deputy Sheriff Richie Weatherly looks through debris, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015, near Linden, Tenn., where Antonio Yzaguirre, 70, and his wife, Ann Yzaguirre, 69, were found dead after severe storms went through the area Wednesday night. A storm system forecasters called “particularly dangerous” killed multiple p… The town of Ashland saw widespread damage.

Three people were confirmed dead from the storms in MS, including a 7-year-old boy, two more in Tennessee and one in Arkansas, according to emergency management and law enforcement officials in the region.

The good news is that Santa Clause is not expected to be delayed by the wild weather.

“There was a loud thundering noise”, Becky Milsap, who lives next door, told KTHV, “and I thought it sounded like something else, maybe like a crash or something”.

The bad weather scrambled plans for travelers in Florida, even as dreams of a white Christmas melted in northeastern parts of the country, which were experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures.

Flooding is expected across much of Georgia and South Carolina Thursday, and the National Weather Service says there is a risk for storms, including tornadoes, damaging rain and winds from Tennessee to the mid-Atlantic region through Christmas day.

According to Bryant, at least six people died in the state, including a 7-year-old, as a result of injuries related to the storm.

Those killed were in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas, CNN said.

“The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety are continuing their disaster operations to get resources to the most heavily affected areas”, Bryant said in a statement.

House-by-house searches are being conducted amid fears more casualties will be discovered. He emerged to find his house had been knocked off its foundation and down the hill.

He managed to climb inside and fetch some Christmas gifts that had been under his tree, but his neighbours weren’t so fortunate. Goodwin’s neighbors weren’t so fortunate.

Mr Shupiery said: “I figured I’d come down here with my hat”. “It’s what Christmas is all about”. He cut up fallen trees not far from Goodwin’s home.

“I’m looking at some horrific damage right now”, Clarksdale Mayor Bill Luckett was quoted by the AP news agency as saying. “Suit up, try to cheer people up, and try to make them feel a little better with Christmas coming around”.

“We had 45 seconds and it hit”, he said.

The damage was very isolated, she said: Diners were still eating at a downtown steakhouse in the tiny town just a few miles from the devastation. “I’ve never been in a situation where a tornado has come this close and been this devastating to a community”. The tornado destroyed an out building and mobile home on their lot. “I’m just not believing what I’m seeing”.

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At least ten people were killed as the storms, feeding on the unseasonable warm air, left a trail of destruction from IL to Alabama.