Severe storms, floods for Southeast as deadly storm rolls east

Show Caption Hide Caption Video captures large tornado touch down in Mississippi A large tornado was captured on video touching down near Marks, Mississippi.

A violent storm system blamed for at least 14 deaths in the South from heavy rain, high winds and several tornadoes has weakened, but still threatened more severe weather Thursday from the mid-Atlantic to the Southeast and Gulf Coast.

Thirteen fatalities were reported due to tornadoes, making this the year's deadliest tornado outbreak and more than doubling the year's total number of U.S. tornado deaths. Until this outbreak, only 10 people had died in tornadoes across the nation, the fewest number on record.

Heavy rain caused flash floods Thursday in portions of Georgia, including the Atlanta area. Flood watches have also been posted for portions of North and South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. This includes Washington, D.C.

The National Weather Service said isolated severe thunderstorms were also possible Thursday from parts of the Mid-Atlantic states southwestward to the central Gulf, though the threat was much lower than it had been on Wednesday.

Thursday night, the danger area was expected to include parts of the lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys to East Texas, according to the NWS.

Wednesday's storm produced at least 15 tornadoes in seven states, according to Dr. Greg Forbes of The Weather Channel, with most hitting northern Mississippi.

On Thursday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant issued a state of emergency for seven Mississippi counties following the deadly tornado outbreak.

In Lutts. Post office and church is gone. pic.twitter.com/Im5OJgrO5p — Jason Gonzales (@ByJasonGonzales) December 24, 2015

In Benton County, Miss., where at least four deaths occurred, crews were searching house-by-house to make sure residents were accounted for.

In addition to Benton County, tornadoes were reported in seven other Mississippi counties, according to Gov. Bryant. More than 40 people were injured.

In Holly Springs, Miss., a 7-year-old boy was killed when the car in which he was riding was picked up and tossed through the air by the storm, officials said.

A tornado damaged or destroyed at least 20 homes in Clarksdale, Miss. Planes at a small airport overturned and an unknown number of people were injured.

“I’m looking at some horrific damage right now,” Clarksdale Mayor Bill Luckett said. “Sheet metal is wrapped around trees; there are overturned airplanes; a building is just destroyed.”

Damaging tornadoes also ripped through parts of Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee. The tornado in Michigan was the state's first ever recorded in December.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said late Thursday the storm caused three fatalities in Maury County, southeast of Nashville.

The National Weather Service on Thursday night confirmed a third tornado at the Tennessee-Alabama border, The Tennessean reported. The EF-1 twister was the continuation of a stronger tornado that touched down in Lauderdale County, Ala. It destroyed one home in Tennessee.

Elsewhere, wind damage and hail to the size of baseballs struck parts of Arkansas, southeast Missouri and Illinois.

An 18-year-old woman, Michaela Remus, was killed in Pope County, Ark., after a tree fell on her home during high winds, KTHV-TV reported.

The woman and her 1 ½-year-old sister were sleeping in a bedroom of the house near Atkins about 65 miles northwest of Little Rock, when winds uprooted the tree that crashed through the roof. Rescuers pulled the toddler safely from the home.

Once the strong storms clear out, record warm temperatures were occurring throughout the East. High temperatures soared into the 70s as far north as New England, the weather service said.

A preliminary damage track from the exceptionally long-track, violent tornado today. Keep N. MS in your thoughts. pic.twitter.com/t8XNso7V6Y — NWS Memphis (@NWSMemphis) December 24, 2015

Contributing: The Associated Press; Greg Toppo, USA TODAY