Storms hammer Southeast

Strong thunderstorms toppled trees, knocked out power and damaged homes Friday in Mississippi and Alabama, while flooding in Kentucky forced evacuations and killed a 2-year-old girl.

Across Mississippi, fast-moving storms unleashed possible tornadoes, heavy rain and some hail. Power failures were reported in several communities, including Jackson and downtown Vicksburg.

Tate Moudy of Brandon, east of Jackson, had just walked into the Southern States Utility Trailer Sales office on U.S. Highway 49 in nearby Richland after showing a trailer to a customer when, he said, “there was a big bang from a transformer being knocked out, and debris started flying through the front door.”

The powerful storm overturned 18-wheel trailers, ripped away part of the roof of the sales office and twisted beams in the building, Moudy said. Employees and others had to remain inside because power lines had fallen across vehicles parked in the lot.

“It was scary, I can tell you that,” he said.

In and near Little Rock, Ark., residents used chain saws, backhoes and elbow grease to clean up from their latest bout of bad weather -- a tornado that swept through Thursday night.

At the North Little Rock Municipal Airport on Friday, a single-engine Cessna lay on its nose propeller against a fuel truck near the runway. The winds also tore into one metal-sided hangar and cut across the runway heading northeast.

Near Benton, southwest of Little Rock, a dozen residences were destroyed at Hurricane Creek Mobile Home Park, one of them by a fire that erupted when a felled tree caused a gas leak. Emergency workers had trouble responding because downed power lines and trees blocked the main road in.

The American Medical Response ambulance service, which serves a number of counties in the Jackson, Miss., area, handled at least 20 storm-related injuries, company spokesman Jim Pollard said.

At least 90,000 customers of Entergy Mississippi lost power Friday, mostly in and around Jackson, said company spokesman Checky Herrington. It will probably be Monday before power is restored to all, Herrington said.

Amid scattered damage in north Alabama, no injuries were reported, but forecasters issued warnings of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes through the evening. No touchdowns were confirmed.

School systems throughout the Birmingham area dismissed students ahead of a wave of storms Friday.

To the north, falling trees struck several houses and a nursing home in Cullman, and authorities ordered an evacuation of everyone within half a mile of a downtown area where a gas leak was reported. Workers contained the leak but feared fuel had reached the city’s storm sewers.

In Kentucky, rivers and streams surged over their banks as rainfall reached half a foot in some areas.

Two-year-old Kate Hearod died Friday in western Kentucky while riding in a vehicle with her mother before dawn.

Heather Hearod, 22, of Hampton lost control of her vehicle after rounding a curve and driving into high water, state police said. She was able to get out of the vehicle and retrieve her daughter, but as she struggled through the floodwaters, she became separated from the child, State Trooper Stu Recke said. The girl was found nearby and later died at a hospital, he said.