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Girl missing, 100 rescued after storms spark flash flooding


    BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - A 9-year-old girl appeared to have been swept away by flash floods triggered by severe storms in Mississippi and more than 100 people were rescued from deluged apartment buildings in Alabama, authorities said on Monday.

    Firefighters in a Birmingham, Alabama, suburb worked for six hours to evacuate residents by boat and rope pulls after swift waters from a nearby creek flooded their apartments, said Homewood Fire Department Lieutenant Gus Murphree.

    No one was injured, he said.

    Authorities in Mississippi were still searching for the young girl, believed to have been carried away by flash-flood waters triggered by storms that were expected to head north into the eastern United States.

    The missing child was from Yazoo County, where flooding had affected homes and businesses, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said.

    Seven people suffered minor injuries in Covington County, Mississippi, where homes had apparently been damaged overnight by a tornado, the emergency agency said.

    Flood watches and warnings were in effect as storms dumped heavy rain across the Southeast. An early tally by the National Weather Service showed that some cities had received as much as 7 to 8 inches of rainfall.

    The thunderstorms on Monday could also bring hail and damaging winds, weather officials said.

    (Reporting by Verna Gates; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Bernadette Baum)