Storms drench Southeast, spurring rescues

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Severe thunderstorms dumped heavy rains across the Southeast on Monday and caused flash flooding in central Alabama, where crews in small boats and military trucks had to rescue dozens of people from their homes and cars.

In Mississippi, police and volunteers searched for a 9-year-old girl who was swept away after the storms dropped nearly 7 inches of rain there over the last two days. A possible tornado in another part of the state damaged homes and hurt seven people, and a motorist in metro Atlanta was found dead after driving into a creek swollen with rainwater.

Strong winds downed trees, power lines and snarled rush hour commutes.

In Pelham, just south of Birmingham, more than 4 inches of rain fell from 7 p.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday. Police and firefighters rescued people who became trapped in flooded townhomes and a mobile home park.

Dozens of cars had water up to their roofs. Rescue workers wearing life jackets waded through muddy water nearly to their chests to reach stranded residents. Hundreds of more people in mobile homes on higher ground were isolated because water covered the only entrance to the complex.

Pelham Fire Battalion Chief Mike Knight said people realized at daybreak that the water, 7 feet deep in some places, was surrounding their homes. Some people had to abandon cars after driving into areas where the flood water was deeper than expected.

“It’s been a long time since it’s done this, so people kind of weren’t expecting it,” he said.

A development of townhomes along a creek in Pelham also flooded, with some units getting 4 to 5 feet of water. Some residents went to their second floors to wait for the water to recede, while others evacuated.

Shannon Martin said she had water up to the top of her toilet bowl in her first floor. She and a friend waded through flooded streets to get inside and floated out some of her belongings in a cooler.

Martin, a renter, said she had insurance to cover her belongings, but doesn’t know where she will live. “I just moved here,” she said.

Marisa Franks sat on her porch at a town house on higher ground. She had no idea what was going on until a neighbor knocked on her door Monday morning to tell her to move her car. She said the water got up to her porch.

“This is a lot of flooding for Alabama,” she said.

At an apartment complex in the suburb of Homewood, rescue crews used a boat to help several residents and pets get out of flooded first-floor units. Mudslides toppled trees and blocked several roads.

Some roads in Birmingham became impassable due to flood waters and fallen trees, and schools delayed opening in many areas of central Alabama due to the heavy rains.

At one point, Birmingham-based Alabama Power Co. reported 11,000 homes and businesses without electricity. That was cut to about 4,500 Monday afternoon.

In the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, Gwinnett County firefighters were called to Jackson Creek after witnesses saw a car leave the road. The car soon was swallowed by the creek. A few hours later, firefighters with an inflatable boat found the driver dead inside, fire department spokesman Lt. Colin Rhoden said in a statement.

In Augusta, Ga., where the Master’s golf tournament is being held this week, practice round play was halted Monday two hours after it began. It was the first time in 11 years that weather washed out a Monday practice round.

In Mississippi, a 9-year-old girl was last seen playing in floodwater near her parents’ house around 7 p.m. Sunday in Yazoo City, the Delta region northwest of Jackson.

Yazoo County Director of Emergency Management Joey Ward said a neighbor saw her wash into a culvert. Ward said divers have cleared all the culverts and attention turned to a large canal.

Farther south, a possible tornado damaged homes in Covington County, where seven minor injuries were reported, the Emergency Management Agency said.