Church Destroyed as Storm Hits Alabama and Mississippi

Pastor Melvin Howard of the Mount Olive Full Gospel Church said he came rushing to the area of Jefferson Avenue and 50th Street in Birmingham, Alabama, when he heard the storm hit. Several houses on the block had been destroyed and partially blown into the street. Police and fire crews canvassed the area Friday night as lightning illuminated the scope of the damage.

Howard said his church's building had collapsed but no one was inside at the time.
"We're just there to salvage what we can salvage," Howard said. "Mikes and p.a. systems of that magnitude that we know someone would go in and take," he said.
Lt. Sean Edwards, a Birmingham police spokesman, said several people were taken to hospitals for treatment of minor injuries, but further details were not immediately available.

The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down in southwest Jefferson County at about 5 p.m. Friday.

7:30 p.m.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says it has received reports of another death and another missing person attributed to the severe weather system that is still impacting the state.
In a statement Friday evening, the agency said Coahoma County has now reported one death, and Benton County has reported another missing person.
The agency says this increases the number of deaths to eight, and the number of missing persons to two. There have been more than 60 injuries attributed to the storms.
So far, the storms have caused widespread damage to more than 100 homes and businesses in Mississippi.
Gov. Phil Bryant declared a State of Emergency on Thursday for affected areas of the state.
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7 p.m.
Police in Birmingham, Alabama, say people are trapped in houses along Jefferson Avenue Southwest, where a tornado touch down earlier Friday evening.
According to Lt. Sean Edwards, a Birmingham police spokesman, there are no known injuries at this point.
Weather radar Friday evening showed an intense system along the Interstate 20/59 corridor west of Birmingham, with the storm moving eastward. Flooding was reported in counties throughout the region, as heavy rain continued to fall.
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6 p.m.
The National Weather Service says search and rescue efforts are ongoing in Birmingham, Alabama, where a tornado moved through in the past hour. The service confirms a tornado touched down in southwest Jefferson County about 5 p.m. Friday, moving northeast toward the city of Birmingham.
Meteorologist Jason Holmes said eyewitnesses spotted the funnel and the agency has confirmed its presence. It's part of the same cell that warranted an earlier tornado warning in Tuscaloosa County, southwest of the Jefferson.
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5 p.m.
The National Weather Service confirms a tornado touched down in southwest Jefferson County in Alabama at about 5 p.m. Friday, moving northeast toward the city of Birmingham.
Meteorologist Jason Holmes said eyewitnesses spotted the funnel and the agency has confirmed its presence. It's part of the same cell that warranted an earlier tornado warning in Tuscaloosa County, southwest of the Jefferson.
Details are still sketchy, Holmes said, and nightfall is making it hard for storm spotters to identify tornado activity.
But he said any reports of tornado-like damage in the region will be treated as if it is a tornado.
Holmes said reports of tornado activity in Bibb County, also southwest of Birmingham, have not been confirmed. But the agency is warning resident there and in neighboring Chilton County to take cover.
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3:20 p.m.
Some Mississippi residents spent their Christmas giving rather than receiving this year.
The American Red Cross of North Mississippi's disaster program manager, Nicholas Garbacz (GAR-bach), says members of the Marine Corps helped turn the Eddie Smith Multi-Purpose Center in Holly Springs into a substitute Santa's Workshop.
The marines donated bundles of toys for those who lost everything — including presents under their Christmas trees — during this week's killer storms
Garbacz says dozens of children and their families showed up Friday morning to pick up a toy or two and other items they might need to help on their path to recovery. He says it was a wonderful experience for those giving and for those getting.
Steve Swann, the agency's logistic head, told WMC-TV (http://bit.ly/1kjOSMr) that he and his wife, Audrey, helped with the giveaway.
Van Rayford, who's now in a hotel with his kids and six of his grandchildren, says he's thankful the Swanns and others sacrificed their Christmas so that his family could have one.
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2:10 p.m.
A flash flood watch has been issued for parts of Tennessee following storms that have pounded the Southeast this week.
Meteorologist Krissy Hurley with the National Weather Service in Nashville says a flash flood watch is in effect for parts of southeastern, central and eastern Tennessee until Saturday morning.
In neighboring Kentucky, the National Weather Service in Louisville says a flash flood watch has been issued for central and eastern parts of the state through midafternoon.
The unseasonably warm weather that spawned deadly tornadoes on Wednesday killed six people in Tennessee. Seven people died in Mississippi and one person was killed in Arkansas.
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1:20 p.m.
Parts of central and north Alabama and northwest Georgia are spending Christmas on the lookout for more heavy rain and flooding.
Heavy rain already is falling in areas stretching across Alabama, from the Mississippi state line west of Tuscaloosa to the Georgia state line east of Anniston.
The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for three counties.
Tornadoes are possible in parts of Alabama north of the I-20 corridor, with other damaging winds of up to 60 mph possible.
Northwest Georgia also continues to receive heavy rain, with flash flood warnings issued.
Residents are advised to stay off the roads. Drivers who do encounter flooded roads are warned to turn around, as authorities say most flood deaths occur in vehicles.
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12:25 p.m.
Authorities say three of the six people killed in storms that rolled across Tennessee were found in a submerged car.
The Columbia Police Department said in a news release that the bodies of three people were found in a car submerged in a Maury County creek Thursday afternoon.
The names of the victims have not been released, but the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said the deceased are a 19-year-old female and two 22-year-old males. The agency says the deaths were weather-related.
The unseasonably warm, severe weather also was responsible for seven deaths in Mississippi and one in Arkansas.
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4:20 a.m.
Some survivors of deadly storms across the Southeast lost their homes and belongings, but say they're thankful to see another Christmas.
Residents of the hardest-hit communities were forced to take stock of their losses Thursday after unseasonably severe weather spawned tornadoes and killed at least 14 people in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.
Barbara Perkins and her husband hunkered in a closet of their home in Falkner, Mississippi, when powerful winds peeled the roof off and sucked up a heavy air conditioning unit. An insurance agent told the couple Thursday their home was a total loss.
Perkins' neighbors weren't as fortunate. Two died in a home nearby.
Despite being newly homeless, Perkins said the tragedy helped her "stop and realize what Christmas is all about."