US Storms: At Least 14 Dead In Trail Of Destruction

Several houses on the block had been destroyed and partially blown into the street. Emergency officials transport James Simmons by boat because water over Byler Road prevented them from reaching him in Moulton, Ala., Friday, Dec. 25, 2015.

Hundreds of families in the U.S. South and Midwest will be spending Christmas in emergency shelters after losing their homes to rare December tornadoes.

(Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP).

(Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal via AP). Albany’s 58 degrees Thursday morning broke the previous record of 57 set on December 24, 1941.

The storm made its way to Perry County, Tennessee, southwest of Nashville, where it killed two people.

Severe weather spawned multiple tornadoes across the southeastern US this week, leaving extensive damage in their wake.

“Following severe weather and widespread flooding, I’ve declared a state of emergency in Fannin, Gilmer and Pickens Counties”, he tweeted.

The threat of severe weather just before Christmas is unusual, but not unprecedented, said Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at the national Storm Prediction Center.

Temperatures across the South and up the East Coast were unseasonably warm as the worst of the storms passed.

“If you go through these neighborhoods, there are a lot of people very proud of what they’ve put out and they’ve got stuff everywhere – all these ornaments and deer and everything else”, Clements said.

“We probably won’t know anything until daylight comes”, she said. “They’re not manufactured to withstand that kind of wind speed, so they become nearly like little missiles”. Portions of southeast Alabama received rainfall that totaled 10 inches or more.

“Santa brought us a good one, didn’t he?”

Six fatalities were confirmed in Tennessee, including three people found dead Thursday in a auto submerged in a creek, according to the fire department in Columbia, Tennessee.

“Pilger is gone”, said Sanford Goshorn, director of emergency management for Stanton County.

Four people died in Benton County, two in Marshall County and one in Tippah County, authorities said. A statement from the governor’s office said that about 190 roads across Alabama were closed due to flooding.

Some Mississippi residents spent their Christmas giving rather than receiving this year.

“Periods of coastal rain and heavy mountain snow can be expected, with the greatest amounts likely over the Cascades and northern and central Rockies, where amounts in excess of one foot are likely at the highest elevations”, the weather service said.

Bledsoe, Hamilton, Marion, McMinn and Meigs counties remained under flood warnings Saturday. Tree limbs and debris covered the highway Thursday, and emergency crews worked to restore downed power lines.

A damaging tornado was spotted near Clarksdale, Miss.

Peak tornado season in the USA south is in the spring, but such storms can happen at any time.