Flash flooding claims lives in Alabama

A stalled storm system dumped up to 13 inches of rain across Alabama, flooding roads, homes, and businesses. In separate incidents on Wednesday night, a 4-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman drowned after floodwaters swept away vehicles in northeastern Alabama. One car holding a boyfriend and girlfriend, both age 23, floated over a guardrail in a Birmingham suburb as rescue crews tried to reach them. The Shelby County coroner identified their bodies on Thursday. Metro Birmingham remains under a flash flood watch, and forecasters warned more storms might add 5 more inches of rain throughout Thursday.

How bad is the flooding? In Pelham, Ala., the fire department deployed more than 100 rescuers and 16 boats to evacuate 82 people from their homes. Crews pulled 15 more from stranded cars. Near the coastline, gallons of sewage overflowed out of underground pipes, and one southern town’s only grocery store filled with 3 feet of creek water. Northeast Alabama and parts of Georgia and Tennessee were under a tornado watch.

Dig deeper: Read Onize Ohikere’s report in the Sift about a deadly flood in Tennessee in August.