Death toll from storm in Southeast rises to 18

Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

The death toll in the Southeast climbed to 18 on Saturday after days of tumultuous weather – unusual warmth, tornadoes and torrential downpours – wreaked havoc during the Christmas holiday.

Two deaths attributable to weather were reported Saturday in Mississippi: two people who have been missing since Wednesday, bringing that state’s death toll to 10. Late Saturday, one death was reported in Alabama.

Flash flooding closed roads across Alabama and trapped motorists in rapidly rising waters.

Ranager Tyler and his son waded into flood water Christmas night and used rope to pull an 11-year-old boy out after his family’s car was swept away near Pinson, about 15 miles northeast of Birmingham.

“The little boy was hanging on to the back of the car,” Tyler said Saturday.

The family’s car was overcome with flood water and ended up in a ditch near Tyler’s Pinson home. The rushing water separated the family as they got out of the car, he said. The boy was later reunited with his family.

In Texas, meanwhile, residents hunkered down for what the National Weather Service was calling a “historic blizzard.” Some parts of the Panhandle could see as many as 14 inches of snow, with sub-zero wind chills and accumulating ice. Residents in Lubbock and Amarillo prepared for a storm expected to begin Saturday night.

Jason Strunk, the football coach at Lubbock High School, said he was checking his home’s pipes and laying out cat litter for traction on his sidewalk and driveway, just as he learned growing up and living in colder climates further north. Strunk’s major concern was unprepared drivers going out on wet, icy roads.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said 56 injuries were reported. In a statement, Flynn said preliminary damage estimates show 241 homes were destroyed or severely damaged.