Deadly tornadoes kill at least 20 across southern US states
● 750,000 without power as storms rage from Texas to West Virginia
Severe weather has swept across the Deep South in the United States, killing at least 20 people and damaging hundreds of homes from Louisiana into the Appalachian Mountains.
Many people spent part of early yesterday sheltering in basements, cupboards and baths as sirens wailed to warn of possible tornadoes.
Chattanooga in Tennessee and several counties in northwest Georgia appeared to be particularly hard-hit.
Murray County Georgia Fire Chief Dewayne Bain told WAGA-TV that two mobile home parks were severely damaged, with five people killed and five others taken to hospital after a line of narrow line of storms left a five-milelong path of destruction.
Another person was killed when a tree fell on a home in Cartersville, Georgia, the station reported.
At least 14 people were taken to hospital in Chattanooga, where search and rescue teams from at least 10 fire departments were going doorto-door responding to more than 300 emergency calls for help, the fire department said.
The storms blew onward through the night, causing flooding and mudslides in mountainous areas, and knocking out power for about 750,000 people in a ten-state swath ranging from Texas to Georgia up to West Virginia, according to poweroutages. us.
The National Weather Service tallied hundreds of reports of trees down across the region, including many that punctured roofs and downed power lines.
Several apparent tornadoes spun up in South Carolina, where dozens of homes appeared damaged in a line from Seneca to Clemson.
Emergency officials were working to open shelters in the North Carolina mountains, where up to five inches of rain fell in a few hours.
In southern Mississippi on Sunday, one person killed was in Walthall County, two were killed in Lawrence County and three were killed in Jefferson Davis County, state Emergency Management Agency director Greg Michel said.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency on Sunday night after he said several tornadoes had struck the state.
“This is not how anyone wants to celebrate Easter,” Mr Reeves said on Twitter.
The National Weather Service advised the storm front would blow into the midatlantic states on Monday, bringing potential tornadoes, wind and hail.
News outlets reported downed trees, flooded streets and other damage in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia.
There were no immediate reports of serious injuries in Louisiana, even though the storm damaged between 200 and 300 homes.