BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) ? Powerful thunderstorms tore through Alabama early Monday, killing at least two people and producing heavy damage just hours after tornadoes struck portions of Arkansas, downing trees and powerlines and leaving thousands without electricity.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency after the predawn storms struck the Birmingham area, with the towns of Center Point and Trussville just to the northeast of the city particularly hard hit.
Two people were confirmed dead, according to Pat Curry, Jefferson County's chief deputy coroner, one in Clay, a city of roughly 10,000 people, and another in the western part of the county.
Earlier, an emergency management official had reported three deaths.
"We have major, major damage," said a Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency official, Bob Ammons, in reference to Center Point, Trussville and some unincorporated areas of the county.
Rescue crews were dispatched to investigate reports of an overturned mobile home with people trapped inside, said Debbie Orange, city clerk for the city of Clanton, about midway between Birmingham and Montgomery. No injuries could be confirmed.
Isolated tornadoes, damaging winds, localized flooding and large hail still threaten much of central Alabama with a tornado watch remaining in effect through mid-morning, according to the National Weather Service.
A preliminary report from the weather service's storm prediction center indicated a radio station in Clanton, Alabama was destroyed and a 302-foot transmission tower "toppled" due to the severe weather.
A tornado is suspected, but not yet confirmed, in the radio station destruction, according to the National Weather Service.
A tornado watch extends into parts of Georgia through the afternoon.
In Mississippi, the National Weather Service was tracking a thunderstorm to the southwest of Hattiesburg that was producing wind gusts of 40 to 50 miles per hour.
In Tennessee, the worst storm damage was in the middle of the state, with downed trees and power lines. Towards western Tennessee structural damage resulted from winds whipping up to 65 mph, meteorologists said.
These were the latest in a series of powerful January storms to have torn through the Southeast.
On Sunday, twisters downed trees and powerlines in Arkansas leaving thousands without power.
A tornado ripped into an area outside of Fordyce, some 70 miles south of state capital Little Rock, damaging houses and felling trees and power lines as it moved, according to Accuweather.com.
Assessment teams from the National Weather Service were headed to the area to survey damage. It has reported as many as eight possible tornadoes may have touched down Sunday night in Arkansas, which was pelted by soft-ball sized hailstones and buffeted by winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour.
By Monday, less than 8,000 customers across Arkansas were still without power, according to utility provider Entergy Arkansas, Inc.
(Reporting by Peggy Gargis, Verna Gates and Kelli Dugan; Additional reporting by Tim Ghianni and Suzi Parker; Writing by Dan Burns and Lauren Keiper; Editing by Paul Thomasch)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/us_nm/us_weather
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