Death count climbs South recovering from storms

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Death count climbs South recovering from storms. At least 45 people died from tornadoes, thunderstorms, flooding and hail across the southern United States over the weekend, and officials said the death toll may rise as the cleanup continues.

The nasty storms killed 22 people in North Carolina, seven each in Arkansas and Alabama, five in Virginia, two in Oklahoma and one each in Mississippi and Tennessee, according to state emergency officials.

Some forecasters expect another round of severe weather to hit the central Plains and the Mississippi and Ohio valleys on Tuesday.




"Beginning late today and tonight, a small area from eastern Kansas to western Kentucky could have a few localized gusty storms before a more widespread severe weather threat unfolds," metrologist Bill Deger of Accuweather.com said.

The Midwest is expected to get a mix of snow and rain around the Great Lakes, according to the Weather Channel, and flood warnings were in effect along and near the Ohio River in Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois, the National Weather Service reported.

In Chicago, a dusting of snow fell overnight after temperatures dipped to freezing or below. Temperatures were in the high 30s on Monday, slowing the melting of the spring snow.

North Carolina accounted for the bulk of casualties and property losses from the weekend weather, with 22 people killed and about 130 others injured. Significant damage was reported in at least 26 counties and power outages affected more than 200,000 people.

The storms began in Oklahoma on Thursday, then moved through the South and hit the East Coast by Saturday. There were 241 tornadoes reported, with 50 confirmed.

Seven people died as a result of the storms in Alabama, seven died in Arkansas, and Mississippi and Tennessee each reported one death.

Two people were killed in Oklahoma when a tornado flattened buildings. Virginia's Office of the Medical Examiner has confirmed five weather-related deaths and was examining others to determine if the storms were the cause of death.

National Weather Service forecasters say northern New Jersey saw some minor flooding on Monday, but that worse is yet to come. They say that flooding on the Passaic River, near Little Falls, could crest at the major flood stage this evening.

"If you had asked me last week, I would have said never," said Henry Underhill, business administrator of Little Falls. He said the river has risen 5 feet in the last two days. He said it's possible that roads in the residential area near the river would have to be closed, and depending on how high the river rises, it may flood homes too.

The storm over the weekend dumped 3.12 inches of rain on the Philadelphia area, according to the weather service.

While the many other parts of the country were suffering from storms and flooding, a severe drought has led to unprecedented wildfires in the Southwest.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has requested a Major Disaster Declaration for the entire state, as brush fires which have burned more than 1.5 million areas continued on Monday.

The fires have been whipped by 60-miles-per-hour wind gusts and fueled by brush dried out by record low humidity.

"We've got real strong winds, real dry air, real low humidities, couple all that with dry fuels, which we have a lot of, and the fires are running pretty hard," Marq Webb of the Texas Forest Service said on Monday.

So far a total of 7,800 separate fires have destroyed 244 homes, including ten homes in southwest Austin which were destroyed Sunday.