Powerful storms kill 16 in southeast US

TIL Desk/World/Washington-At least 16 people have been killed after powerful weekend storms tore through the southeastern United States, authorities said. A rural part of south-central Georgia was hardest hit, leaving at least twelve people dead, according to the state’s Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

Four others died and 20 were injured on Saturday morning by a tornado that swept through southern Mississippi, according to that state’s emergency services agency. In Georgia, eight of those killed died in southern Cook County, seven of them at a trailer park, Cook County coroner Tim Purvis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported extensive damage in some parts of Georgia, with numerous felled trees and downed power lines in several counties. Although storms have passed, authorities warned that a second line of severe weather is advancing, with the threat of more heavy rain and powerful winds.