Storms kill 14 in South, Midwest
ATLANTA — Parts of the Midwest and the South were recovering today after a weekend round of storms, winds, hail and isolated tornadoes killed at least 14 people.
And a chance remained for more severe weather in the South. Parts of the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi could be affected by severe thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.
Tornadoes hit several small towns in East Texas, killing four people. Flooding and winds killed five people in Arkansas, including a fire chief who was struck by a vehicle while working during the storm.
Two deaths were reported in Missouri, including a woman who drowned after rushing water swept away a car. One of two deaths in Mississippi included a 7-year-old who died by electric shock and a 2-year-old girl died in Tennessee after being struck by a soccer goal post thrown by heavy winds.
The storms rolled through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday with strong winds causing isolated pockets of damage.
In Durant in central Mississippi, one person died in the storms. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency didn’t give details. Later Sunday the agency reported the death of a child from Rankin County, 20 miles east of Jackson, who died from electric shock in floodwaters. The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department reported that a 7-year-old boy had unplugged an electric golf cart and dropped the cord in water on the ground and was shocked.
In Tennessee, Melanie Espinoza Rodriguez, 2, died after being struck by a heavy, metal soccer goal post that was blown over by high winds,
Rescuers in northwest Arkansas continued Sunday to look for an 18-month-old girl and a 4-year-old boy who were in a vehicle swept off a bridge by floodwaters in Hindsville, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said.
In northwest Arkansas, a 10-year-old girl drowned in Springdale and the body of a woman who disappeared riding an inner tube Saturday.
In Texas, search teams went door to door Sunday after tornadoes Saturday flattened homes, uprooted trees and flipped several pickup trucks at a Dodge dealership in Canton.
“It is heartbreaking and upsetting to say the least,” Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett said Sunday.
