© Ryan Moore/WDAM-TV via AP Debris lies on the ground after a storm south of Mount Olive, Miss., moved through the area Monday, Jan. 2, 2017.
Four people died in a structure on Monday evening in Alabama when a tree crashed through it while another man died in Florida while trying to evacuate his home as strong storms moved through the South.
Numerous tornadoes have been confirmed, lightning has sparked several houses fires and and high winds knocked out power to more than 80,000 people in two states. Downed trees and damaged buildings were reported in at least 28 counties in Mississippi, 15 parishes in Louisiana and 15 counties in Texas, according to the Associated Press.
FloridaA
Walton County man was found drowned near his submerged vehicle in Mossy Head Monday afternoon, the Walton County Sheriff reported. Sheriff's officers believe the man was trying to evacuate from a travel trailer off of W T Hulion Road.
No further information has been released pending notification of the man's next of kin.
AlabamaFour people died in a structure in Rehobeth, just southwest of Dothan in southeastern Alabama, Gov. Robert Bentley confirmed on Twitter.
The individuals
were in a mobile home when a tree crashed through it, the
Dothan Eagle reports.
A
three-foot sinkhole opened up in Dothan on Monday morning, following severe rainfall Sunday, according to WTVY.
Emergency management officials in Jackson declared a flash flood emergency for the town of about 5,000, located 65 miles north of Mobile. The flash flood emergency was cancelled Monday evening.