Possible tornadoes swept through parts of Alabama and Tennessee overnight, killing five people and injuring more than a dozen as heavy rains from storms moving across the South produced flooding in areas previously suffering from months of drought. The Macklin Baptist Church, a flat building with rigid siding like a warehouse, and Rosalie Plaza, a gas station and grocery store in a long, red-brick building on AL-71, were both completely destroyed in the storm along with about 15 other structures, according to Rocky Harman, Chief Deputy of Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Another person in the mobile home where the three died was critically injured, Harnen said. Harnen also said early Wednesday that there have been a number of other injuries and estimated that 16 to 20 structures in Jackson County have been destroyed. Possible tornadoes were reported across several counties in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee, National Weather Service meteorologist Lauren Nash said. Tremendous thunderstorms with ping-pong ball-sized hail and dangerous tornadoes covered much of the Southeast — stretching from Louisiana up through Tennessee — Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. In Mississippi, the National Weather Service in Jackson said late Tuesday that it had counted six confirmed tornadoes so far in the areas of the state it monitors. National Weather Service offices in Louisiana and Alabama planned to send personnel out Wednesday to check on possible tornados that occurred late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Three people are dead after a tornado hits in Jackson County in the U.S. state of Alabama. Four other people are injured in neighboring De Kalb County.