Death toll rises after storm hits south

Deadly tornadoes hit Alabama, Louisiana, forecasters say.

Severe storms sweeping across southern portions of the U.S. were blamed Saturday in the deaths of at least 11 people, including two first responders, as high winds, tornadoes and unrelenting rain battered a large area of the region.

Storm-related fatalities were reported in Texas due to icy weather, in Alabama from a deadly tornado and in Louisiana, where winds were so strong that they lifted a trailer home off its foundation and carried it several hundred feet. A man also drowned in Oklahoma. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power from Texas to Michigan, parts of highways were closed in Oklahoma and Arkansas due to flooding and hundreds of flights were canceled at Chicago’s international airports.

Two first responders were killed and another was critically injured in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday morning after they were hit by a vehicle while working the scene of a traffic accident in icy conditions, officials said.

Police Officer Nicholas Reyna, 27, who had been with the department for one year, died at the scene. Firefighter Lt. David Hill, 39, was taken to a local hospital where he later died. Firefighter Matthew Dawson, 30, was hospitalized in critical condition.

Lubbock Police Chief Floyd Mitchell called it an “extremely tragic day” for the city.

Another person had died in Texas Friday night when a car flipped into a creek in Dallas as severe thunderstorms passed through. Lightning from Friday’s stormy weather was suspected of causing fires that burned two houses by caused no injuries in the North Texas cities of Burleson

and Mansfield.

A man drowned near Kiowa, Oklahoma, after he was swept away in floodwaters, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Saturday. Randall Hyatt, 58, of Wardville, was overwhelmed by rushing water while getting out of his stalled truck.

In Alabama, three people were confirmed killed near Carrollton in Pickens County.

The Alabama Emergency Management Agency said the deaths were caused by an “embedded tornado within a long line of intense thunderstorms.”

GARY COSBY JR. / THE TUSCALOOSA NEWS A tornado devastated homes near Carrollton in Pickens County, Alabama, killing several people Saturday. Larry Jones, whose home was spared, talks to Sheriff Todd Hall. Jones located the fatalities as he helped search for his neighbors.

LT. BILL DAVIS / BOSSIER PARISH SHERIFF’S OFFICE The National Weather Service estimated a tornado with around 135 mph winds touched down Friday night in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, causing damage such as this.