Christmastime tornadoes ravage South; at least 14 killed

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By PHILLIP LUCAS and ERIK SCHELZIG

ASHLAND, Miss. (AP) — Instead of doing some last-minute shopping or wrapping gifts, families across the South spent Christmas Eve taking stock of their losses after an unusual outbreak of December tornadoes and other violent weather killed at least 14 people and damaged or destroyed dozens of homes.

"Santa brought us a good one, didn't he?" Bobby Watkins said as he and his wife took a walk amid the destruction in rural Benton County, Mississippi, where four people — including a married couple and two neighbors on the same street — were confirmed dead and their homes destroyed. "I may have lost some stuff, but I got my life."

Unseasonably warm weather Wednesday helped spawn twisters from Arkansas to Michigan. The line of springlike storms continued marching east Thursday, dumping torrential rain that flooded roads in Alabama and caused a mudslide in the mountains of Georgia.

Authorities confirmed seven deaths in Mississippi, including that of a 7-year-old boy who was in a car that was swept up and tossed by a storm. Six more died in Tennessee. One person was killed in Arkansas.

FULL story and many photos at link.


Part of the foundation of the home of Antonio Yzaguirre, and his wife, Ann Yzaguirre, remains, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015, after severe storms went through the area Wednesday night near Linden, Tenn. The couple was killed in the storm. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6d9b7093890d4f2eb9c8756d57157188/deadly-storm-system-scatters-damage-across-south

[BlueJazz]

1. Tragic. I feel very fortunate tonight.

[Warpy]

2. Well, hold onto your hats, kids

because we have blizzard warnings east of the mountains here in NM for Saturday, and when a storm has enough punch to drop anything, even without the 70+ MPH winds predicted, it usually means heavy weather east of us.

[elmac]

3. Michigan had its first December Tornado

since records were kept starting in 1950 & its almost January.

[Waitsman]

4. Incredible!

Just looked at the GOOGLE NEWS page. Items, 400lb woman stabs man, Palin daughter has baby, Actor pardoned by Governor because he took up Kung Fu.

Not a word on this story.

[restorefreedom]

5. nothing about trump?

jeez, priorities, people!

rip to the victims


welcome to du, waitsman

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. Those poor people.

You have to live in tornado country to really appreciate just how scary those things are.

The closest I have ever been was one that went over my house. The sound is unbelievable.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. It was a bad storm for a couple of reasons..

Lasted, in my area, for almost 24 hours. The storms came across in bands, one right after another.
Powerful storms....almost constant thunder, and very high wind in spurts. I watched the rain being blown sideways at one point.
Heavy rains.
When a storm like that is bad in my quite safe area, I know it is so much worse across the tornado belt.
Was watching the weather radar and there was a lot of "severe" reds and purples in the radar, for a long time.
My yard had standing water for half the day, which normally happens only during hurricanes or tropical storms.

We have just begin tornado season down here.