Severe weather continues in the south

Alabama Power reported Friday night that 10,000 of its customers, mainly in the Birmingham area, are without power. The flood warning is in place until Monday.

Meanwhile, U.S. post-holiday travelers can expect a mix of stormy weather this weekend, with blizzard conditions in New Mexico and western Texas, while flooding rain hits the southern plains from south Texas through in, forecasters said on Saturday. Some parts of the Panhandle could see as many as 14 inches of snow, with sub-zero wind chills and accumulating ice.

Officer Joe Harn, a Garland police spokesman, said Saturday night the four were killed in accidents that occurred during a massive storm, but it’s unclear if all four were in the same vehicle or how they died.

Jason Strunk, the football coach at Lubbock High School, said he was checking his home’s pipes and laying out cat litter for traction on his sidewalk and driveway.

“When we get an inch or two, people panic”, he said.

“Until they know for sure where those folks are, they’re going to keep looking, because we’ve had in some cases houses levelled, and they’re just not there anymore”, Flynn said.

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

Barbara Perkins was told Thursday by an insurance agent that her storm-damaged home in Falkner, Mississippi, was a complete loss. “Please do not get out on the roads if you do not have to”. There were no immediate reports of damage.

The bodies of a man and a woman missing in Benton County, Mississippi, since being caught in a tornado on Wednesday, were found by search and rescue teams on Saturday morning, said Greg Flynn, spokesman for Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

“He and I just huddled together and saw trees fly past us, and a shipping container flip over”, Ables said. Residents were warned to brace for flash flooding and possible tornadoes.

The storms have brought record rainfall in some areas this week. Four inches of rain walloped the city of Mobile, Alabama, on Wednesday – smashing the previous record of 2.2 inches set in 1990.

James Brown of the Coffee County Emergency Management Agency says volunteers distributed sandbags in Elba, where the Pea River was projected to crest Saturday at 43 feet, about a foot below the levees that protect the area.

One tornado damaged or destroyed at least 20 homes in the northwest part of Mississippi.

“The damage was… confined to approximately one square mile”, Birmingham Fire Department Chief Charles Gordon told CNN.

Several structures were destroyed in Birmingham, Alabama after a tornado hit the Tuscaloosa/Jefferson County area on Christmas Day.

Among the dead were seven people from MS, including a 7-year-old boy who perished while riding in a auto that was swept up and tossed by storm winds.

The governor of Alabama has declared a state of emergency as heavy rains, flash floods, thunderstorms, and tornadoes tore through the state. Major flooding is forecast for Big Nance Creek, which runs through the town of Courtland in northern Alabama.

Peak tornado season in the South is in the spring, but storms can happen any time. Exactly a year ago, tornadoes hit MS, killing five people and injuring dozens.