Tornado watch: Two dead in Alabama as storms tear through South leaving thousands without power

High winds downed power lines as more than five inches of rain fell within several hours in some parts of the south, leaving more than 50,000 customers in Mississippi and Alabama without electricity Wednesday morning, according to poweroutage.us.

In Alabama, as of 7.30am local time, there were 38,399 customers without power, while in Mississippi, there were more than 7,000 customers left in the dark.

In Louisiana and Texas, which also experienced severe weather on Tuesday night, there was a combined 7,000 customers without electricity.

Stunning drone footage captured in Mississippi shows the moment that a tornado touched down just outside of Bassfield at around 5pm.

Twitter user Ryan Hearne shared the video on his personal account on Tuesday night, which showed the dark ominous clouds that soon became the large swirling tornado that swept across the screen.

“Just shot an incredible tornado video just to the southwest of Bassfield, Mississippi at approximately 5 PM using my drone, this is just a short clip but I’ll be releasing a full video later tonight,” tweeted Mr Hearne on Tuesday while sharing a clip of the severe weather.

Record highs were set in parts of Texas on Tuesday, with meteorologists attributing the warmer than average temperatures to partially fuelling the severe storm system that surged across the southern US.

On Wednesday, however, the forecast had swung in the other direction, with some parts of the state experiencing a 40-degree drop from the day before.

“The temperature roller coaster doesn’t quit over the next week. Record heat yesterday, winter chill today, warm by Friday, cold again this weekend,” tweeted meteorologist Avery Tomasco.

In cities like Pampa and Canadian, the temperature was nearly 40 degrees colder than it was one day earler.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama confirmed by radar that a tornado had touched down on Tuesday just southwest of Tallassee, which led the agency to issue a warning to residents to “take cover immediately!”

While in Mississippi, the NWS confirmed that a tornado had hit at around 7.15pm CT in Paulding and Stringer.

Satellite footage from this week shows the “particularly dangerous” storm system developing across the southern US.

Watch the clip below here.

Videos from Tuesday night showed the stunning and severe weather that tore through the southern US, which left many homes damaged and at least a few injuries reported as of early the next day.

A wall of thunder was captured by a storm chaser in Mississippi who caught the shocking footage while driving down the road on Tuesday night.

The non-profit organisation Sirens Project, which assists communities in emergency events by deploying volunteers and supplies, captured a harrowing shot of a tornado touching down near Bay Springs, Mississippi on the interstate.

“Thankfully we didn’t discover damage requiring our equipment. Continuing NE to monitor developing supercells into AL,” tweeted the group on Tuesday.

In the west Alabama town of Eutaw, video from WBMA-TV from showed large sections of the roof missing from an apartment complex, displacing 15 families in the middle of the night.

“We’ve got power lines, trees just all over the road,” Eutaw Police Chief Tommy Johnson told WBRC-TV. “In the morning when we get a little daylight, we’re going to do a door-by-door search to make sure no one is trapped inside or anything like that.”

Local news reporter Megan Scarano shared heartbreaking footage from the scene on Wednesday morning, noting how the shredded apartment complex provided disturbing views from the hallways straight into people’s bedrooms.

“This is the reality this morning for some families at Sagewood Apartments in Eutaw. Their home torn to shreds. You can see straight through bedrooms and hallways, Siding, shingles, and wood is laying all over their backyard,” tweeted Ms Scarano.

At least two people were confirmed to have been killed in Alabama after a severe storm system tore through much of the southern US with tornadoes leaving a wake of destruction in their path.

“We do not have an exact number and I do not want to give incorrect information, but there are minor, moderate, and obviously, the two fatalities that we have suffered for our community at this point in time.  So, that’s where we are right now,” said Christina Thornton, Montgomery County, Alabama Emergency Management Director during an interview with Fox Weather’s Jason Frazer and Britta Merwin on Wednesday morning.

“We’re – like I said, we’re just trying to get the information.  They’re still doing search and rescue efforts if they’re able to get to homes due to the trees being down in the roadways.”

Injuries were also confirmed earlier on Wednesday in Mississippi and Louisiana where tornadoes were also reported to have touched down on Tuesday night.

Watch the full interview here.

As tornadoes and severe storms bore down on much of the southern US on Tuesday, many cities, counties and states began issuing weather warnings, some even tornado warnings.

The incident is just the latest reminder to be prepared for extreme weather events, have a plan in place should an emergency situation arise and to know the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning alert when you receive one on your phone.

The former is the preliminary alert issued a few hours in advance of a coming storm, intended to make those likely to be in its path aware of the situation in order to ensure that they keep an eye on developments, remain vigilant and prepare to move should an evacuation prove advisable.

A tornado warning, meanwhile, is more urgent and highly localised and should be regarded as an order to take shelter as soon as possible because the storm’s impact is imminent.

Joe Sommerlad explains it in more detail here.

A suspected tornado damaged numerous homes during the night in Hale County, Alabama, where the emergency director said more than a third of the people live in highly vulnerable mobile homes.

“I have seen some really nice mobile homes tied down, but they just don’t stand a chance against a tornado,” Hale County Emergency Management Director Russell Weeden told WBRC just ahead of the storm.

The American Red Cross has reportedly been called in to assist the county where emergency responders estimated that at least 30 homes were damaged while between three to four were destroyed.