Death toll in storms sweeping southern U.S. increases to five

Possible tornadoes swept through parts of Alabama and Tennessee overnight, killing five people and injuring more than a dozen as heavy rains from storms moving across the South produced flooding in areas previously suffering from months of drought.

Storms sweeping parts of Alabama have claimed the lives of five people. Photo: @newshqtoday.

Possible tornadoes were reported across several counties in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee, National Weather Service meteorologist Lauren Nash said.

Three people were killed and one person was critically injured in a mobile home in the small northern Alabama town of Rosalie when an apparent tornado hit about midnight Tuesday, said Jackson County Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen. The same possible tornado hit a closed day care centre in the Ider community, injuring seven people, including three children, who had left their mobile home to seek shelter there, said Anthony Clifton, DeKalb County Emergency Management Director.

Building completely destroyed after tornado rips through HWY 17 in Sulligent, Alabama. @WCBINEWS @WCBIWEATHER pic.twitter.com/P2MfNi22K3

— Salena Rae Roche (@SalenaRoche) November 30, 2016

Authorities said dozens of buildings had been damaged or destroyed in the state.

In southern Tennessee, an apparent tornado also was responsible for the death of a husband and wife in Polk County, while an unknown number of others were injured, said Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Dean Flener. No further details were immediately available.

The storms tore through just as firefighters began to get raging wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, under control after they wiped out hundreds of buildings, including homes, and in Alabama dumped more than 2 inches of rain in areas that had been parched by months of drought.

Storm Pics I took around North Alabama #valleywx #alwx @AlabamaSCAS @Ala_StormChaser @tornadoraiders @tornadot @TornadoVideos @tornado_tours pic.twitter.com/tuLpNCNYDq

— AL~Skywatcher(Wx) (@AL_SkyWatcher) November 27, 2016

Tornadoes and hail were also reported Tuesday in Louisiana and Mississippi. In Mississippi, the National Weather Service in Jackson said late Tuesday that it had counted six confirmed tornadoes so far in the areas of the state it monitors.

The Storm Forecast Center in Norman, Oklahoma, issued a tornado watch from southeast Louisiana to northwest Georgia as a line of severe storm moved southeast Wednesday morning.

National Weather Service offices in Louisiana and Alabama planned to send personnel out Wednesday to check on possible tornadoes that occurred late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Associated Press writers Bernard McGhee in Atlanta and Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, contributed to this report.

Tornado Warning for Limestone and Madison Counties including Huntsville, Alabama until 9:30. Seek Shelter! pic.twitter.com/m8E1tuu0hi

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) November 30, 2016

Reports of 3 killed by #tornado in Jackson County, #Alabama. Pictures by @TimPhamWRCB @MichelleWRCB. Follow them for updates. #alwx pic.twitter.com/CYqdaMY1UK

— Austin Kellerman (@AustinKellerman) November 30, 2016

TORNADO EN ALABAMA DEJA 3 MUERTOS!!!
El hecho se reporto esta madrugada sobre la carretera 71 en Rosalie, Alabama pic.twitter.com/90R0UdClmI

— Prissila Sánchez (@PrissilaSanchez) November 30, 2016

This storm, passing over south Huntsville, later dropped the tornado which killed two in Rosalie, Ala. pic.twitter.com/V6XqrrSCew

— eric j schultz (@eric_j_schultz) November 30, 2016