Wind, rain continue to pound the South
Relentless wind and rain continued to pummel large swaths of the South on Tuesday, causing tornadoes, sparking a flash flood emergency in Alabama and damaging homes from Texas to Virginia.
The National Weather Service issued the flash flood emergency for the Birmingham, Alabama, area at the start of rush hour, warning that torrential rains — as much as 5 inches in some areas — had already fallen and another 2 inches were possible before the storm system continued moving east.
Jefferson County Emergency Management officials urged residents to stay off the roads because so many were flooded and covered.
Strong winds blowing behind a line of storms were toppling trees across central Alabama, where soil was saturated with water. In the Birmingham suburb of Homewood, residents huddled on the second-floor balcony of an apartment complex that became flooded. Rescuers in a small boat paddled through the parking lot past submerged cars.
Parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, as well as corners of Arkansas and Georgia were at enhanced risk for the worst weather, according to the national Storm Prediction Center.
The storms have been responsible for three deaths this week and, as of Tuesday evening, more than 350,000 customers were without power from Texas to Maryland, including 143,000 in Mississippi and 76,000 in Virginia, according to poweroutage.us. Alabama Power Co. reported some 93,000 homes and businessess without electricity statewide.