Baseball-sized hail threatens Alabama, tornado reported in Mississippi as severe storms hit South

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Severe weather tore through the South on Friday, felling trees, flooding rivers and threatening homes as the system moved east. 

The community of Orange Beach, Ala. saw their car windshields shattered by hail the size of baseballs, and quarter-sized hail pelted Texas’s Dallas-Fort Worth area.

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In Pelahatchie, Miss. video from residents captured ominous skies and WJTV confirmed that a tornado touched down in Rankin County.

Nearby, trees and powerlines fell on a mobile home and vehicle at Lake Harbor and in neighboring Louisiana, KSLA reported that a 48-year-old Shreveport man was killed when a tree fell on his mobile home.

Flood Warnings were issued across Mississippi with concerns about the Grand River overflowing and severe thunderstorms across the region and WLBT reported on a dramatic roof collapse caught on video.

Power outage tracker PowerOutage.US showed Saturday morning that there were still more than 53,300 outages in Louisiana, almost 39,000 outages in Mississippi, more than 28,600 outages in Arkansas, close to 14,800 outages in Florida and more than 10,000 outages in Alabama.

While the storms brought damaging winds and tornado advisories across the Gulf States, storms and the potential of isolated tornadoes will continue through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

The agency reports that potent thunderstorm activity in the Deep South will approach the Southeast with some storms becoming severe and containing heavy rainfall with the potential for rain rates in excess of two inches per hour.

The Gulf Coast is also at risk for excessive rainfall once again, with amounts as high as four inches.

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In addition, the Middle Mississippi River Valley, Mid-Atlantic coast and East Coast all have thunderstorms forecast through Saturday night. 

By Sunday, severe weather may continue across the northern and eastern U.S. with lingering showers and thunderstorms up and down the East Coast and near the Great Lakes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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