At Least Seven Dead as Tornados Strike Southern US

Severe weather outbreak in the southern United States killed seven people, according to the US National Weather Service.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Severe weather that spawned tornadoes in the southern United States, killing at least seven and injuring up to 40, was expected to diminish on Thursday, the US National Weather Service said in a statement on its website.

"The storm system that produced the severe weather outbreak on Wednesday will continue to move east on Thursday, but has diminished in strength," the statement noted.

The victims included a 7-year-old boy in the US state of Mississippi found dead in a van near the city of Holly Springs, and three other deaths reported in the area, the Weather Channel reported.

Television images showed one tornado on the ground for more than ten minutes, forcing authorities to close a major highway as the twister approached, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

In the state of Arkansas, Pope County Sheriff Shane Jones told the media that an 18-year-old girl was sleeping in a bedroom with her younger sister when winds uprooted a tree that crashed through the roof, killing the teen. Rescuers pulled the toddler safely from the home.

Even as the storm system lost strength, the National Weather Service warned people from the Mid-Atlantic states to the Gulf of Mexico to expect isolated severe thunderstorms, with a more concentrated threat across parts of the states of Alabama and Georgia.