Trump vows federal help as storms, tornadoes rip through southeastern U.S., killing 18

A dangerous weekend weather system has killed at least 18 people in the U.S. South, as Georgia officials on Sunday reported more than a dozen deaths after severe thunderstorms and tornadoes buffeted several states.

The storms in Georgia, which killed a total of 14 people, followed a predawn tornado in Mississippi on Saturday that killed four people. Severe weather also injured more than 50 others and damaged about 480 homes in Mississippi, state officials said on Sunday.

Photos from the affected areas showed collapsed buildings, homes with roofs destroyed, toppled trees and fields littered with debris.

State of emergency 

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared an emergency for seven counties in the south-central part of the state, warning that dangerous conditions persisted and could reach north to the Atlanta area.

"I urge all Georgians to exercise caution and vigilance in order to remain safe and prevent further loss of life or injuries," Deal said in a news release.

Severe winds toppled trees and downed power lines in Georgia and northern Florida on Sunday, and hail was sighted in northern Florida. 

Trump pledges federal assistance

President Donald Trump pledged federal assistance for Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

Trump said during a White House ceremony that he had spoken to Deal and planned to speak with Florida Governor Rick Scott about the storms.

Trump said he expressed his condolences. "The tornadoes were vicious and powerful and strong and they suffered greatly," he said. "So we'll be helping out."

'A sense of shock'

Seven deaths occurred in Cook County, Georgia, state emergency managers said in a statement, with local reports that a mobile home park was particularly hard hit. Officials earlier reported eight deaths in the county.

First Baptist Church Adel, located in the county seat near the Florida-Georgia state line, was sheltering more than 50 people, said pastor Bill Marlette, who had just helped inform a family that two of their relatives were among the dead.

Photos from the affected areas showed collapsed buildings, homes with roofs destroyed, toppled trees and fields littered with debris.

"There's a lot of hurting people right now," he said, adding that many in the hard-hit mobile home park escaped with only the clothing on their backs.

"There's just a sense of shock. You always think it happens somewhere else, but when it happens to you, it catches you off guard," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

'High risk' warnings

In Georgia, most of the storms had moved on by Sunday night, with a few still threatening coastal areas, said Mark McKinnon, a spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

The system prompted U.S. weather forecasters to issue a rare, "high risk" warning of severe storms threatening parts of southern Georgia, north Florida and Alabama on Sunday, the first such warning since 2014. South Carolina could 
also see severe weather.

"These could be the kind of tornados you don't want to mess with," said Rich Thompson, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. 

The system toppled trees and power lines in Georgia, northern Florida and Alabama on Sunday, the agency's website reported. Hail was sighted in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

In Alabama, some 29,000 power outages were reported as of Sunday afternoon, Alabama Power tweeted. Several thousand had also been without power in Mississippi, where utilities were working to restore service.

The severe weather was expected to last into Sunday evening. On the west coast, heavy rains from a separate system drenched parts of Southern California on Sunday.