Possible tornadoes hit South, killing 1

CHRISTIANA, Tenn. – Severe storms in the South on Tuesday killed a person and injured at least two others, knocking down trees and leaving thousands without power, officials said. The weather disrupted Election Day voting in some places, forcing citizens to use paper ballots instead of electronic voting machines.

In Tennessee, crews responded to a collapsed home where one person was confirmed dead, Rutherford County EMS spokesman Patrick Miller said. He said two others were injured when a nearby mobile home rolled over.

Possible tornadoes touched down in Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, felling tree limbs and power lines and prompting some schools to delay the start of classes. In northeast Alabama near the Tennessee line, an apparent tornado damaged barns and smaller buildings, but no injuries were reported, the National Weather Service said.

Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins said the polling places that lost electricity were operating on generators and had emergency ballots ready for voters. He said the paper ballots would be counted Tuesday. He said the largest area of power outages was in Knox County, where nearly 20,000 customers remained without power Tuesday morning.

In West Virginia, storms caused two voting precincts to open late but didn’t cause problems.

West Virginia Secretary of State’s spokesman Michael Queen said 14 precincts were without power at 5 a.m., but the office worked with several state and local agencies to install generators or move precinct locations. He said polling places without power used generators until electricity was restored so no paper ballots were necessary.

Officials say crews were working to restore power to thousands of residents from Louisiana to South Carolina.

Parts of Tupelo, Miss., were closed Monday as debris, downed trees and power lines blocked roadways.