May 5, 2021 Share
Relentless winds and rain pummeled large swaths of the South on Tuesday, causing tornadoes, sparking a flash flood emergency in Alabama and damaging homes from Texas to Virginia. The storms prompted boat rescues, toppled trees and power lines and raised the threat of flash floods elsewhere in the region.
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 (13 centimeters) in some areas had already fallen and another 2 inches (5 centimeters) were possible before the storm system continued eastward.
Jefferson County Emergency Management officials in the Birmingham area urged residents to stay off the roads because so many were flooded.
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Relentless wind and rain continued to pummel large swaths of the South on Tuesday with more than 350,000 customers without power in the region, including 143,000 in Mississippi, according to poweroutage.us.
With warnings about possible tornadoes, dozens of school systems in Mississippi dismissed students early so buses and cars would not have to be on the road during potentially violent weather. Downed trees cover Oakview Drive in Tupelo, Miss., Monday, May 3, 2021. A line of severe storms rolled through the state Sunday afternoon and into the nighttime hours. (AP Photo/Thomas Graning)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — 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
Another day of severe storms was forecast across much of the South on Tuesday, continuing a rough stretch of weather that saw damaging tornadoes hit parts of the region both Sunday and Monday. The storms killed two people in Georgia and one person in Tennessee.
Severe thunderstorms are forecast Wednesday from the central Gulf Coast to the Mid-Atlantic, said the National Weather Service. Wind gusts and marginally severe hail will be primary dangers.
The threat zone for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes Tuesday covered more than 1,000 miles from the lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast to the upper Ohio Valley, AccuWeather said.