Tornado touches down near Birmingham, Alabama

The funnel was spotted by witnesses outside the city about 5pm Friday.

Lieutenant Sean Edwards of Birmingham police said at least three people were taken to hospital for treatment of injuries.

Parts of the South are facing possible flash floods, even as they survey the damage from a wave of severe weather that killed at least 15 people across Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Then, the supposed tornado moved over Birmingham. Tuscaloosa Police reported several areas of the city were under water as heavy rains passed over the city in the evening.

“It makes you thankful to be alive with your family”, he said.

The Alabama tornado comes amid ongoing storms in southern United States.

Some Mississippi residents spent their Christmas giving rather than receiving this year. Weather forecasters from the National Weather Service warned that a strong storm crossing the central part of the state could produce hail and winds of more than 40 miles per hour.

But he said any reports of tornado-like damage in the region will be treated as if it is a tornado.

Among the dead was a 7-year-old boy in Holly Springs, Mississippi, according to Mayor Kelvin Buck.

The new tornado Friday follows unusually warm weather that spawned tornadoes from Arkansas to Michigan, CBS News reported, and states of emergency were declared in Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee as the damage continued through to the weekend.

Barbara Perkins and her husband hunkered in a closet of their home in Falkner, Mississippi, when powerful winds peeled the roof off and sucked up a heavy air conditioning unit.

Dozens more were injured, some seriously, said Greg Flynn, spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. A visiting insurance agent told them the house was a total loss.

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

As of 6:45 pm, the severe weather threat looks to be subsiding, but Alabama will continue to watch for the chance of severe weather for the rest of the evening. Two died in a home nearby.