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'Dangerous' Alabama tornado damages homes, uproots trees, leaves casualties

At least six people killed in Alabama and one in Georgia as thunderstorms and tornado sweep through southern US states, officials say.

AP

A damaged vehicle and debris are seen in the aftermath of severe weather in Selma city in Alabama.

A giant, swirling storm system billowing across the southern US has killed at least six people in Alabama state and one in Georgia, authorities said, and spawned a tornado that shredded the walls of homes, toppled roofs and uprooted trees in Selma city.

Ernie Baggett, the emergency management director in Autauga County, Alabama, told The Associated Press on Thursday he could confirm six fatalities were scattered across multiple homes in the Old Kingston community.

Baggett said mobile homes and conventional homes were both damaged.

"It seems to have been a couple of different houses where people were at home," Baggett said.

He said at least 12 people were injured severely enough to be taken to hospitals by emergency responders.

Autauga County, Alabama, is 66 kilometres northeast of Selma city.

Officials estimate that 40 to 50 homes were damaged or destroyed by storms that cut a strip across the county, Baggett said.

"Search and rescue is really more what's going on right now," Baggett said.

AP

Kids walk home from school after a tornado hit near Meadowview elementary school in Selma, Alabama.

33 separate tornado reports

In Selma, a city etched in the history of the civil rights movement, brick buildings collapsed, cars were on their side, and traffic poles were strewn about in the downtown area.

Plumes of thick, black smoke rose over the city from a fire burning. It was not immediately known whether the storm caused the blaze.

Selma Mayor James Perkins said that no fatalities have been reported at this time, but first responders are continuing to assess the damage.

A city curfew is being put into place, the mayor added.

The "large and extremely dangerous tornado" caused damage as it moved through the historic city, the National Weather Service [NWS] said. There were confirmed reports of tree and structural damage in Selma and reports of damage in other counties, the agency said.

Nationwide, there were 33 separate tornado reports, the NWS said as of Thursday evening, with a handful of tornado warnings still in effect in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Selma, a city of about 18,000 residents, is about 80 kilometres west of the Alabama capital city of Montgomery.

AP

A vehicle is upended and debris is strewn about follow a tornado near Meadowview elementary school.

Power outages

The weather service had issued a tornado emergency for several counties just north of the capital city of Montgomery as the same storm system moved eastward.

"This is a life-threatening situation. Take shelter immediately," the weather service said of the reported tornado.

There were multiple tornado warnings issued on Thursday in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee as the storm system moved through the region.

More than 50,000 customers were without power in Alabama, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide. In Georgia, more than 100,000 customers were without electricity, it said.

In Kentucky, officials confirmed that an EF-1 tornado struck Mercer County and said crews were surveying damage in a handful of other counties.

SOURCE: AP