Washington: Powerful storms have swept across the south of the United States after unleashing suspected tornadoes and flooding that killed at least eight people, injured dozens and flattened much of a Texas town. Three children were among the dead.

Nearly 90,000 customers were without electricity in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Georgia as of midday Sunday, according to www.poweroutage.us as the severe weather left a trail of destruction.

Two children were killed on a back road in East Texas when a pine tree fell onto the car near Pollok, southeast of Dallas.

The tree "flattened the car like a pancake," said Captain Alton Lenderman of the Angelina County Sheriff's Office. The children, ages 8 and 3, were dead at the scene, while both parents, who were in the front seat, escaped injury, he said. </s> Three children and woman killed in storms in southern US

Three children and woman killed in storms in southern US

Several people have been killed in storms in the southern US

At least four people have reportedly been killed, including three children, in powerful storms that hit the southern United States, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall.

A three-year-old and an eight-year-old died after a tree fell onto the back of their family car in Lufkin, Texas, NBC News said. Their parents who were in the front were uninjured,

In West Monroe, Louisiana, a 13-year-old boy drowned in a drainage canal in what officials believe was a weather-related incident, the report said.

Streets had been closed in the city and a flood warning was issued for the area.

A fourth person who died in the storms was a woman killed by weather-related debris near Weches in Houston County, Texas.

In Franklin, Texas, a tornado with winds up to 140mph overturned mobile homes and damaged other properties, injuring about a dozen people.

NBC quoted Robertson County emergency management coordinator Billy Huggins as saying: "A strip of homes on the other side of town over here are completely gone, just gone, everything is gone."

He added: "To this small town of Franklin, it's very devastating. How we're going to get people help to restore their homes that don't have insurance or what have you, it's going to be pretty difficult.

"It's going to be a little difficult putting it back together, but we'll do it."

There was also a suspected tornado in Alto, Texas, which injured several people.

The storms were part of a large system that was moving through the southern US, knocking out power to thousands of homes and causing some flash flooding.

The US weather service said the system was expected to shift to the Ohio Valley and the southeast US on Sunday.

More than 140,000 customers remained without power in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas late on Saturday. </s> LONDON
• A powerful winter storm battered Europe yesterday, killing one woman and leaving 330,000 homes without power in France as flights and train services were cancelled and coastal areas put on flood alert.

Britain issued nearly a dozen severe flood warnings, meaning there was a risk of severe flooding and danger to life, and urged thousands of people to evacuate their homes in several seaside communities.

The storm, named Egon, also battered Belgium and Germany, where the key international hub of Frankfurt airport cancelled 120 flights, according to German media.

Eurostar cancelled two trains between London and Paris, while 180 passengers were forced to spend a chilly night on a high-speed Thalys train from Brussels to the French capital that finally arrived 10 hours late.

"We stopped on the tracks at around 9pm," said Mr Eduardo Soteras, a passenger on the train.

"At first we had electricity, but then it (was) cut. We found ourselves in the dark without heating."

In France, a woman was killed by a falling tree in her garden in a village near the Mediterranean resort of Nice, while another woman in Albania was found dead on Thursday outside her home in the southern town of Saranda.

"She died in front of her children. Her husband immediately tried to help by cutting the tree, but it was too late," a French police official said of the death there.

Winds of up to 146kmh hit France's Channel port of Dieppe overnight, while parts of Germany were bracing for up to 30cm of snow yesterday.

Since the end of last week, a winter cold snap across Europe has killed more than 60 people, with homeless people and migrants stranded in countries such as Greece and Serbia most at risk.

Separately, an ice storm heading for the central United States was threatening to take down trees and power lines and create treacherous travel conditions yesterday and into the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

Ice, freeze rain and winter storm warnings were in effect for a large swathe of the Plains, from the Texas panhandle north into Iowa and east through central Indiana, it added. </s> Image copyright Off-Road Adventures/via REUTERS Image caption A snow storm struck the US south-eastern states over the weekend

A heavy snowstorm has swept through US south-eastern states, killing at least three people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

A state of emergency has been declared in North Carolina, with some areas reporting as much as 0.5m (18.5ins) of snow over the weekend.

One man died after a tree fell on his car. A search is under way for a driver whose vehicle was found in a river.

Thousands of flights were also cancelled across the region.

Image copyright Twitter/Bryce Sigmon/via REUTERS Image caption A boathouse in North Carolina destroyed by the storm

'A dangerous system'

Snow, sleet and freezing rain continues to impact the South.

At a news conference on Monday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said "a year's worth of snowfall fell in some places in a day".

More than 300,000 people were affected by electricity outages in the Carolinas, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia on Sunday, while storm warnings remained in place in the south-east "especially North Carolina and Virginia", the National Weather Service (NWS) said in a tweet.

The storm was expected to move off the coast on Monday, although the NWS's lead forecaster Michael Schichtel warned it would continue to be "a dangerous system".

"It's slow to move off the Carolinas but a saving grace is that it won't hit New England," he told Reuters news agency.

Image copyright Rod Wilbourn/via REUTERS Image caption Snow hits a porch in Banner Elk, North Carolina

In some areas, so much snow fell the weight brought power lines crashing down.

But the main danger appeared to be on the roads.

Almost 60 crashes were reported in Virginia, state police told local media, with the number rising to 672 in North Carolina as of Monday morning.

NWS officials warned of black ice forming on roads on Monday and into Tuesday.

Gov Cooper emphasised that the roads could "turn into ice rinks" even as the storm passes.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Hundreds of road accidents were reported

On Monday, the governor confirmed three storm-related deaths, saying the snow "turned into a nightmare and tragedy".

A man was killed in a suburb of Charlotte when a tree fell on his car. A second person was taken to hospital following the accident, WRAL.com said.

A woman receiving hospice care in the western part of the state also died during the storm.

Near Winston-Salem, another individual died of a heart condition on the way to a shelter, according to the governor's office.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A snow storm struck the US south-eastern states over the weekend

Gov Cooper urged residents to check on their loved ones and neighbours, particularly senior citizens.

The North Carolina National Guard remains active. The troops rescued 20 people in Wilkesboro, Brig Gen Todd Hunt said at the news conference, and continue to assist with road clearing and traffic accidents.

Several hundred miles east, in Kinston, divers were searching for another driver, whose tractor-trailer apparently crashed into the Neuse River.

Officials were alerted after debris was spotted on a bridge over the river, ABC12 said. </s> U.S. winter storm knocks out power to 190,000 in North Carolina

A powerful winter storm that hit the U.S. Southeast over the weekend knocked out power for more than 190,000 customers in North Carolina, officials said on Sunday. </s> Severe weather has killed least 15 people in the southern United States, and forecasters warn of more deadly storms to come.

The National Weather Service said Sunday that southern Georgia, northern Florida and the corner of southeastern Alabama could face forceful tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail. Long track tornadoes, which plow on for kilometers, also are a real risk.

Eleven people were killed and more than 20 injured as violent storms and tornadoes rolled through parts of Georgia over the weekend. Another four people were killed in Mississippi by a tornado on Saturday.

Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia declared a state of emergency in seven counties that suffered deaths, injuries and severe damage from the storms. Deal said that state agencies are "making all resources available'' to affected counties, and that "our thoughts and prayers are with Georgians suffering from the storm's impact.'' </s> CHARLESTON, S.C./SAVANNAH, Ga.—Hurricane Matthew slammed into South Carolina on Saturday, packing a diminished yet still powerful punch after killing almost 900 people in Haiti and causing major flooding and widespread power outages as it skirted Florida and Georgia.

Now weakened, the most powerful Atlantic storm since 2007 left flooding and wind damage in Florida before moving slowly north to soak coastal Georgia and the Carolinas. Wind speeds had dropped by nearly half from their peak about a week ago to 75 miles per hour, reducing it to a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on the Saffir-Simpson scale of 1 to 5.

Matthew, which topped out as a ferocious Category 5 storm more than a week ago, made landfall near McClellanville, a village 30 miles north of Charleston that was devastated by a Category 4 hurricane in 1989.

The National Hurricane Service said Matthew was over Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Saturday afternoon, and warned of potentially life-threatening flooding in Georgia and North Carolina even as the storm slowed as it plowed inland.

At least five deaths in Florida and three deaths in North Carolina were attributed to the storm. Two people were killed by falling trees in Georgia's Bulloch County, the county coroner said. The storm knocked out power to almost 1.6 million households and businesses in the U.S. Southeast.

The stretch of the Atlantic coast from Miami to Charleston, a nearly 600-mile drive, encompasses some of the most well-known beaches, resorts and historical towns in the southeastern United States. Parts of Interstate 95, the main north-south thoroughfare on the East Coast, were closed due to flooding and fallen trees, state officials said.

In Florida, 775,000 were without power, according to state utilities, while in South Carolina 433,000 had no electricity, Governor Nikki Haley said. Georgia Power said at least 275,000 were without power in the state.

Roads in Jackson Beach, Florida, were littered with wood, including sections of a historic pier, and foot-deep, water-clogged intersections. Beachfront businesses suffered moderate damage.

"We rode out the storm. It wasn't this bad at our house, but here there's a lot of damage," said Zowi Cuartas, 18, as he watched people pick up shattered signs near the beach. "We were prepared to lose our house."

Governor Rick Scott of Florida said more than 6,000 people stayed in shelters overnight, but he appeared relieved at a news conference on Saturday the storm had not done more harm.

"We're all blessed that Matthew stayed off our coast," he said. He predicted most people would have power back by Sunday evening. He did not comment on the death reports, which were confirmed by local officials.

Streets in downtown Charleston, known for its historic architecture, were flooding up to the tops of tires on some cars and a few residents waded near the city's sea wall as high tide approached.

Tony Williams, 54, who said he is homeless, rode his bicycle against huge wind gusts after spending the night in the garage of a bank. "I just got tired of laying where I was laying," he said.

On Daufuskie Island near the Georgia border, writer Roger Pinckney, 70, said he was fine on Saturday morning after refusing pleas from officials for residents of low-lying barrier islands to evacuate. "It blew like hell," he said.

Charleston officials said they were not aware of any deaths, injuries or significant structural damage. Winds and the threat of surges were expected to diminish through the day.

The toll in the United States was far less devastating than in Haiti, where at least 877 people died earlier, a death tally that ticked up as information trickled in from remote areas.

Matthew howled through Haiti's western peninsula on Tuesday with 145 mph (233 kph) winds and torrential rain. Some 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm hurled the sea onto coastal villages.

The U.S. military was deploying aid to Haiti by air and sea. Mesa Verde, a U.S. Navy amphibious transport dock ship, was due to arrive on Sunday with heavy-lift helicopters, bulldozers, fresh-water delivery vehicles and two operating rooms. Iwo Jima, a second Navy ship, was due to arrive on Oct. 13. The U.S. government was also airlifting emergency supplies, according to the United States Agency for International Development.

Aid group Doctors Without Borders was flying personnel to Haiti by helicopter. The Haitian government warned a deadly outbreak of cholera could worsen, confirming dozens of new cases of the water-borne disease since the storm, 13 of them fatal.

Officials in Florida, which has been grappling with an outbreak of Zika, said they hoped the flooding would not worsen the spread of the mosquito-borne virus, which causes fever and birth deformities.

"We have got to get rid of standing water as quickly as we can," Governor Scott told reporters.

In North Carolina, where the hurricane was due to arrive on Saturday evening, Governor Pat McCrory warned storm surges and high winds could cause serious problems. He said he was "extremely concerned" the downgrade to a Category 1 would cause people not to take warnings seriously.

Forecasters warned of flooding as 15 inches (40 cm) of rain were expected to fall in some areas along with massive storm surges and high tides.

Further south, some 8 inches (20 cm) of rain fell in the Savannah, Georgia, area, downing trees and causing flooding.

The National Weather Service said record-high tides were recorded at the Savannah River at the South Carolina-Georgia border, peaking at 12.6 feet, surpassing those caused by Hurricane David in 1979.

Though gradually weakening, Matthew was forecast to remain a hurricane until it begins moving away on Sunday, the NHC said. </s> CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Some of the South’s most historic cities faced the weakening but still powerful Hurricane Matthew as it plowed north along the Atlantic coast, flooding towns and gouging out roads in its path.

The storm killed at least four people in Florida and knocked out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses, even though its strongest winds stayed just offshore.

Matthew is forecast to move near or over the South Carolina coast Saturday morning, the National Hurricane Center reports. The Category 2 hurricane will near North Carolina’s southern coast by Saturday night, the center says.

“Now is the time we ask for prayer,” Gov. Nikki Haley said as she finished an update on storm preparations and bowed her head.

Matthew — the most powerful hurricane to threaten the Atlantic Seaboard in more than a decade — set off alarms as it closed in on the U.S., having left at least 300 people dead in Haiti.

In the end, it brushed the heavily populated areas of Florida and raked the Georgia coast, including some of the state’s islands such as St. Simons and Tybee.

Steve Todd defied orders to evacuate Tybee even after the mayor called and pleaded with him to leave. As conditions rapidly deteriorated Friday night, Todd wasn’t sounding quite so bold.

“I’m not regretting staying,” Todd said by phone. “But I’m not going to lie: There’s a little bit of nervous tension right now.”

Todd said he was staying with friends at a third-story condo, which had lost electricity.

“It’s throwing down right now,” Todd said. “The trees are bending over. We saw a bush fly by. It’s raining sideways now.”

In Florida, the storm gouged out several large sections of the coastal A1A highway north of Daytona Beach and had nearly completely washed out the northbound lane for about a mile at Flagler Beach.

“It’s pretty bad; it’s jagged all over the place,” said Oliver Shields, whose two-story house is within sight of the highway.

The deaths in Florida included an elderly St. Lucie County couple who died from carbon monoxide fumes while running a generator in their garage and two women who were killed in separate events when trees fell on a home and a camper.

About 500,000 people were under evacuation orders in the Jacksonville area, along with another half-million on the Georgia coast. More than 300,000 fled their homes in South Carolina. The latest forecast showed the storm could also scrape the North Carolina coast.

“We have been very fortunate that Matthew’s strongest winds have remained a short distance offshore of the Florida and Georgia coasts thus far, but this should not be a reason to let down our guard,” the Hurricane Center said in a forecast discussion.

St. Augustine, which is the nation’s oldest permanently occupied European settlement and includes a 17th-century Spanish fortress and many historic homes turned into bed-and-breakfasts, was awash in rain and gray seawater that authorities said could top 8 feet.

“It’s a really serious devastating situation,” Mayor Nancy Shaver said of the city of 14,000. “The flooding is just going to get higher and higher and higher.”

Historic downtown Charleston, usually bustling with tourists, was eerily quiet, with many stores and shops boarded up with plywood and protected by stacks of sandbags.

The city announced a midnight-to-6 a.m. curfew Saturday, about the time the coast was expected to take the brunt of the storm.

Matthew lashed Savannah, a city that was settled in 1733 and has a handsome historic district of moss-draped trees, brick and cobblestone streets, Greek Revival mansions and other 18th- and 19th-century homes.

Matthew was expected to bring winds of 50 to 60 mph that could snap branches from the burly live oaks and damage the historic homes. And 8 to 14 inches of rain could bring some street flooding. The extent of the damage wasn’t clear early Saturday.

A small crew of workers Thursday set out to button up the Owens-Thomas house, one of Savannah’s architectural gems. The 1819 Greek Revival mansion serves as a museum.

Sonja Wallen, a curator, said antique rugs and furniture were moved away from the home’s more than 40 windows, many of them still with their original glass. Windows were fitted with plywood and other coverings, while sandbags were stacked at the basement entrance.

“It’s basically a lot of little details — sandbags and duct tape around doorways where water can get in,” Wallen said. “It’s pretty much the same stuff you would do for any home.”

At 2 a.m. EDT, Matthew had sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph), and was centered 45 miles (70 kilometers) south of Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was moving north about 12 mph (19 kph).

Airlines canceled at least 5,000 flights Wednesday through Saturday, including many in and out of Orlando, where all three of the resort city’s world-famous theme parks — Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld — closed because of the storm.

But things began getting back to normal, with flights resuming in Miami and other South Florida airports. And power companies in Florida promised that electricity would be almost fully restored by the end of the weekend.

In areas the storm had already passed, residents and officials began to assess the damage.

Robert Tyler had feared the storm surge would flood his street two blocks from the Cape Canaveral beach. Tree branches fell, he could hear transformers exploding overnight, and the windows seemed as if they were about to blow in, despite the plywood over them.

But in the morning, there wasn’t much water, his home didn’t appear to be damaged on first inspection, and his vehicles were unharmed.

“Overnight, it was scary as heck,” Tyler said. “That description of a freight train is pretty accurate.”

Mohr reported from Orlando, Florida; Gary Fineout in Tallahassee, Florida; Kelli Kennedy and Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Jennifer Kay, Freida Frisaro and Curt Anderson in Miami; Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Janelle Cogan in Orlando, Florida; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Martha Waggoner in Raleigh, North Carolina; Jeffrey Collins on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Jack Jones and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; and Bruce Smith in Charleston, South Carolina, contributed to this report. </s> Winter storm Eleanor reached Europe on Wednesday, bringing heavy winds and flooding and leaving at least three people dead.

The storm battered France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands on Wednesday, after hitting the U.K., where thousands of homes are still without power and winds reached 100 miles per hour, according to the BBC.

A skier in the French Alps died after being hit by a falling tree, the New York reported. Two people died on the northern coast of Spain after being swept away by a wave, according to the BBC. And several people were injured after winds blew a train off its tracks in Switzerland.

About 200,000 households in France lost electricity as a result of the storm, the Associated Press reported, while strong winds caused flight delays at major airports in Paris and Amsterdam.
Severe winter storms in the southeastern United States kill three people and leave 310,000 others without power.