At least seven people have died in Georgia and Alabama after a massive storm system whipped up severe winds and tornadoes cut a path across the south of the United States.
Key points:
- Six deaths were recorded in Autauga County, Alabama and one in Jackson, Georgia
- More than 50,000 households were without power Friday morning
- Across the US, there were more than 40 separate tornado reports
A twister damaged buildings and tossed cars in the streets of historic downtown Selma.
Early on Friday morning (US time), tens of thousands of customers remained without power across the two states.
In Selma on Thursday, the city council used lights from cell phones as they held a meeting on the footpath to declare a state of emergency.
Six of the deaths were recorded in Autauga County, Alabama, 66 kilometres north-east of Selma.
About 40 homes were destroyed or seriously damaged by a tornado that cut a 32-kilometre path across two rural communities, according to Ernie Baggett, the county’s emergency management director.
“They weren’t just blown over. They were blown a distance,” he said.
At least 12 people were taken to hospital and crews were cutting through downed trees on Thursday night to look for people who may need help.
In Georgia, a passenger died when a tree fell on a vehicle in Jackson, Butts County coroner Lacey Prue said.
In the same county, south-east of Atlanta, officials said the storm appeared to have knocked a freight train off its tracks.
Officials in Griffin, south of Atlanta, told local news outlets multiple people had been trapped inside an apartment complex after trees fell on it.
A Hobby Lobby store in the city partially lost its roof, while elsewhere in town firefighters cut a man loose who had been pinned for hours under a tree that fell on his house.
Nationwide, there were more than 40 separate tornado reports from the National Weather Service on Thursday, and Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina and North Carolina all saw tornado warnings for a time.
The tornado that hit Selma cut a wide path through the downtown area, where brick buildings collapsed, oak trees were uprooted, cars were on their side and power lines were left dangling.
Plumes of thick, black smoke rose over the city from a fire burning. It wasn’t immediately known whether the storm caused the blaze.
AP