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Tornadoes, storms kill at least 17 in South
4:26pm EDT
By Peggy Gargis and Harriet McLeod
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Tornado warnings stretched across the Carolinas on Saturday afternoon as the death toll rose to 17 people from a string of storms over the last three days in the southern United States.
The National Weather Service said some mobile homes collapsed in Lee County, North Carolina, from the high winds. The weather service reported nickel-sized hail near Darlington, South Carolina, and a flash flood near Table Rockin the state.
The tornado warnings extended from the middle of South Carolina to Raleigh, North Carolina.
Unconfirmed tornado sightings have been reported in Union, Caswell, Rowan and Lee Counties, according to Julia Jarema, public information officer for the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.
Jarema said she herself was taking shelter with her family at 3:30 p.m. local time, in her home in Cary, near Raleigh.
Tornadoes have raked the South since Thursday night. On Friday seven people died in Alabama, seven in Arkansas and one in Mississippi. Two people were killed on Thursday night when a tornado flattened buildings in the town of Tushka, Oklahoma.
All the Alabama deaths were caused when mobile homes were blown off their foundations, according to Alabama Emergency Management spokeswoman Yasamie Richardson August.
They included an elderly man in Marengo County, a mother and two children in Washington County, and a father and his two adult children who lived near each other in Autauga County.
Greg Carbin, meteorologist with the National Storm Prediction Center, said that Saturday would likely be the third and final day for the deadly storm system in the region.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency on Friday and surveyed the state with emergency management officials.
Six of the seven fatalities in Arkansas were caused when uprooted trees smashed into houses, National Weather Service meteorologist John Robinson said.
Robinson said he could not recall a time when so many fatalities occurred because of fallen trees in Arkansas. Three of the Arkansas deaths were young children.
Carbin said this type of storm system in the South was not unusual for April, as moist spring air meets the remnants of cold winter air.
"You have just the right combination of ingredients for severe weather," Carbin said. "This is a dangerous time in the southern United States."
Tornado season typically runs from March to early July in the United States, moving from south to north as the year progresses. The storms kill an average of 70 people a year.
Not all of the deaths from the storms would be officially counted as tornado deaths, as some were likely due to high winds, Carbin said.
The worst U.S. outbreak of tornadoes on record occurred on April 3-4, 1974, when 307 people were killed by 148 twisters in 13 states.
Tennessee was hit by heavy rains and damaging winds Friday, and many homes remain without power. Rainfall totals of about three inches were not unusual across the state.
Storms, some severe, also were expected Saturday from the Florida Panhandle through eastern and southern Georgia, according to weather.com.
Elsewhere, fire danger continues over the dry southern plains and some upper Midwestern states were hit by snow on Saturday. In the northeast, heavy rainfall was possible in Pennsylvania and upstate New York, the web site said.
Weather experts are still trying to determine how many tornadoes touched down over the last few days.
(Reporting by Peggy Gargis in Birmingham, Alabama; Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C.; and Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Tennessee; Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by David Bailey and Peter Bohan)
4:26pm EDT
By Peggy Gargis and Harriet McLeod
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Tornado warnings stretched across the Carolinas on Saturday afternoon as the death toll rose to 17 people from a string of storms over the last three days in the southern United States.
The National Weather Service said some mobile homes collapsed in Lee County, North Carolina, from the high winds. The weather service reported nickel-sized hail near Darlington, South Carolina, and a flash flood near Table Rockin the state.
The tornado warnings extended from the middle of South Carolina to Raleigh, North Carolina.
Unconfirmed tornado sightings have been reported in Union, Caswell, Rowan and Lee Counties, according to Julia Jarema, public information officer for the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.
Jarema said she herself was taking shelter with her family at 3:30 p.m. local time, in her home in Cary, near Raleigh.
Tornadoes have raked the South since Thursday night. On Friday seven people died in Alabama, seven in Arkansas and one in Mississippi. Two people were killed on Thursday night when a tornado flattened buildings in the town of Tushka, Oklahoma.
All the Alabama deaths were caused when mobile homes were blown off their foundations, according to Alabama Emergency Management spokeswoman Yasamie Richardson August.
They included an elderly man in Marengo County, a mother and two children in Washington County, and a father and his two adult children who lived near each other in Autauga County.
Greg Carbin, meteorologist with the National Storm Prediction Center, said that Saturday would likely be the third and final day for the deadly storm system in the region.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency on Friday and surveyed the state with emergency management officials.
Six of the seven fatalities in Arkansas were caused when uprooted trees smashed into houses, National Weather Service meteorologist John Robinson said.
Robinson said he could not recall a time when so many fatalities occurred because of fallen trees in Arkansas. Three of the Arkansas deaths were young children.
Carbin said this type of storm system in the South was not unusual for April, as moist spring air meets the remnants of cold winter air.
"You have just the right combination of ingredients for severe weather," Carbin said. "This is a dangerous time in the southern United States."
Tornado season typically runs from March to early July in the United States, moving from south to north as the year progresses. The storms kill an average of 70 people a year.
Not all of the deaths from the storms would be officially counted as tornado deaths, as some were likely due to high winds, Carbin said.
The worst U.S. outbreak of tornadoes on record occurred on April 3-4, 1974, when 307 people were killed by 148 twisters in 13 states.
Tennessee was hit by heavy rains and damaging winds Friday, and many homes remain without power. Rainfall totals of about three inches were not unusual across the state.
Storms, some severe, also were expected Saturday from the Florida Panhandle through eastern and southern Georgia, according to weather.com.
Elsewhere, fire danger continues over the dry southern plains and some upper Midwestern states were hit by snow on Saturday. In the northeast, heavy rainfall was possible in Pennsylvania and upstate New York, the web site said.
Weather experts are still trying to determine how many tornadoes touched down over the last few days.
(Reporting by Peggy Gargis in Birmingham, Alabama; Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C.; and Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Tennessee; Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by David Bailey and Peter Bohan)