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Overnight rescues and flooding

National Weather Service

Overnight rescue efforts continued in the Birmingham area following heavy rain, flooding and tornadoes that pounded the South. The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touchdown that hit a Birmingham neighborhood Christmas evening. Search and recovery crews worked through the night looking for people believed trapped inside wrecked houses. Early reports included several injuries, but no fatalities. Alabama Power says some 10,000 customers are without power, mostly in the Birmingham area. Torrential rain accompanied the twisters, leaving much of central Alabama paralyzed with flooding. Streets in the city of Anniston were reported closed overnight. Around midnight, the Ensley neighborhood of Birmingham was reporting flood waters seven feet deep. Other parts of Alabama were also impacted by the heavy rain. The National Weather Service reports Huntsville had five and three quarter inches of rain, breaking a Christmas Day record set back in 1973.

Pat Duggins is news director for Alabama Public Radio.
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