Wind and rain continue to pound US South amid flood fears

The lodge at the Barn on the Brazos wedding venue is shown after being destroyed by a tornado in Blum, Texas (Yffy Yossifor/Star-Telegram via AP)

Relentless wind and rain continued to pummel large swaths of the US South on Tuesday, causing tornadoes, sparking a flash flood emergency in Alabama and damaging homes from Texas to Virginia.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued the flash flood emergency for the Birmingham, Alabama area at the start of rush hour, warning that torrential rains — as much as five inches in some areas — had already fallen and another two inches were possible before the storm system continued moving east.