hard-hit community. locals bent over salvaging what they could. this was michael wilson s home. the walls and the door, everything was still here. i grabbed them and just laid on top of them. within five minutes five seconds it was gone. reporter: now trying to dry out memories of better times. now wilson and his mother-in-law feeling blessed. going to be with me for christmas. can t ask for no more. reporter: these crews have been able to put in new power lines like that within 30 minutes. i asked them how they got here so quickly. they say they live here and want to get this done before christmas. matt gutman, abc news, columbia, mississippi. a powerful storm is also being blamed for damage in central ohio. thousands of people are without power this christmas morning. the strong winds ripped the roof off a storage unit building and overturned dozens of cars in a shopping mall. police responding feared the worst. most of those people that
it is thursday, december 25th. announcer: from abc news, this is world news now. we say special good morning to you everybody on this christmas day. i m kendis gibson. i m michelle franzen. a very merry christmas to you and everyone out there. we begin, though, this half hour with the killer storms in the deep south. the red cross is helping people in southeast mississippi who lost everything in an instant on tuesday. including some loved ones. most have their power back now. forecasters now say it was an ef-3 tornado with winds between 136 and 165 miles an hour. abc s matt gutman is there. reporter: sirens howling and a line of deadly storms over the past 24 hours. heavy flooding in georgia. record rain in tallahassee and a
we say good morning to you on this christmas eve. i m kendis gibson. so good to have you here. it is good to be here. you hail from? the washington, d.c., abc affiliate. still have the new car smell after two days of being here. all good. good to have you. we ll begin with the deadly storms in the south and the christmas travel nightmare shaping up. a major storm is brewing from the midwest and east and that may mean some travel delays. our coverage begins with abc s josh haskell. that s a tornado. reporter: that massive dark cloud is a tornado in ellisville, mississippi. severe weather killed four in the deep south tuesday night. just look what the storms did to this ambulance and this home. oh, man! reporter: wind so strong they left buildings without roofs and towns without electricity. we had a lot of fog. a lot of light rain around the storm. it was almost impossible to see
announcer: from abc news, this is world news now. we say good morning to you on this christmas eve. i m kendis gibson. so good to have you here. it is good to be here. you hail from? the washington, d.c., abc affiliate. still have the new car smell after two days of being here. all good. good to have you. we ll begin with the deadly storms in the south and the christmas travel nightmare shaping up. a major storm is brewing from the midwest and east and that may mean some travel delays. our coverage begins with abc s josh haskell. that s a tornado. reporter: that massive dark cloud is a tornado in ellisville, mississippi. severe weather killed four in the deep south tuesday night. just look what the storms did to this ambulance and this home. oh, man! reporter: wind so strong they left buildings without roofs and towns without electricity. we had a lot of fog. a lot of light rain around the storm.
they are actually deadly. abc s rob marciano has more. reporter: the deep south under a dangerous threat. severe damage in amite, louisiana. up to 2 0 houses hit hard by a possible twister, and at least four dead in mississippi where the governor declared a state of emergency. winds there so strong they flipped cars on the highway, including this ambulance. at least seven tornado reports, plus hail and wind damage as the storm steamrolled across the gulf coast. today was even worse. a lot of fog. a lot of light rain around the storm. it was almost impossible to see anything unless you were directly hit by it. oh, man! it is storming. reporter: near baton rouge, rain rates up to four inches an hour. definitely white in the midwest. snow plows out in full force. in rapid city, south dakota, visibility down to a quarter mile. in minnesota, rain turned to