A powerful and deadly winter storm is taking aim at the Northeast. The weather system left a path of destruction across the South, damaging homes, downing power lines and causing several crashes.

At least four people have died. Roughly 55 million Americans are under weather alerts Friday from Mississippi to Maine.

A possible tornado touched down in Spartanburg, South Carolina Thursday. There were destroyed homes, countless uprooted trees and downed power lines, CBS News correspondent Janet Shamlian reports.

Mark Nelson and his daughter, Sophie, were shocked by the damage to their home, showing Shamlian the wreckage.

"If someone had been in there when this came down, they wouldn't be with us now," Nelson said. "That's hard to wrap my hands around."

Overnight, severe storms toppled a crane in Florida, shutting down parts of Interstate 275.

A van carrying city employees in Sevierville, Tennessee, was crushed by a falling tree. One woman was killed and four others were hurt.

In Alabama, another person died after a tornado ripped mobile homes to shreds in Marengo County.

Powerful storm bands also whipped across North Carolina, where a driver was killed after his pickup hydroplaned on a rain-slicked road.

More storms are expected Friday. In Virginia, Governor Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency Thursday night as heavy rains forced hundreds of people from their homes.