Severe storms sweep across the South; 1 killed in Arkansas

(Weather Underground via AP).

The National Weather Service and television meteorologists had cautioned throughout Wednesday that the South was under threat. A long cold front will set off a few showers and storms in the Gulf Coast states and along the Eastern Seaboard. An 18-year-old Arkansas woman was killed when a tree blew over onto a house and crashed into her bedroom.

In Arkansas, Pope County Sheriff Shane Jones said the 18-year-old woman was killed when a tree crashed into her bedroom.

Her death was one of at least six weather-related fatalities in the US on Wednesday.

A 7-year-old boy died in Holly Springs when the storm picked up and tossed the auto he was riding in, officials said.

Two people have been killed in Perry County, Tennessee, southwest of Nashville.

At least six, including a child, were left dead and an unknown number of people were critically injured in a storm described by forecasters as “particularly dangerous” hit Wednesday south and mid-west of the US.

Three people died in Benton County, authorities said.

House-by-house searches are being conducted amid fears more casualties will be discovered. Center meteorologist Matt Mosier says a preliminary report showed that at least 14 tornadoes touched down in Mississippi.

The area with the greatest threat of strong tornadoes will be roughly northwest of a line from Carrollton to Jasper, the weather service said.

One year ago a tornado hit south-eastern MS, killing five people and injuring dozens more. Travel was treacherous as the storms produced heavy rains, flooding and tornadoes. Strong winds are possible as well as isolated tornadoes.

“There are some houses that were blown away”, said May, who runs the Como Inn. Trees rested atop several trucks on his property, and slabs of brick walls were strewn throughout his yard.

“It’s very ugly; it’s very scary”, Wilson said.

“I’m looking at some horrific damage right now”, Clarksdale Mayor Bill Luckett said. At least 40 other people were reportedly hurt across northern Mississippi.

Witnesses say one monster twister in Clarksdale, Mississippi stayed on the ground for 10 minutes, barrelling across farmland.

He says they have received reports of damage and unconfirmed reports of injuries.

Some storms were moving at 55 to 60 miles per hour.

The centre determined Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee as areas threatened by unsafe tornados starting from midnight “tonight” until tomorrow evening. A storm system killed several people as it swept across the South, and officials are searching for mis…

Almost 70 million people were forecast to be in the path of the storms Wednesday night, ABC said.

The national Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma issued a “particularly risky situation” alert for the first time since June 2014, when two massive EF-4 twisters devastated a rural Nebraska town, killing two people.

The high winds have also caused significant damage to homes. Three people escaped unharmed.

The sheriff’s office says emergency responders pulled the child from the home.

A man and a woman were reported killed in the storm by the Tennessee state health department, which did not provide any more details.