Alabama, Natural Disaster | featured news

Emergency management officials in northern Alabama say houses have been destroyed by a tornado as the region braces for a storm outbreak.

A strong storm system that produced several possible tornadoes hit the Southeast on Wednesday, damaging dozens of homes and buildings. At least four people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured. Suspected tornadoes were reported in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina, and thousands of people were without power as trees and power lines were downed.

The city's refusal to let homeless residents occupy temporary housing provided by FEMA has sparked outrage in this central Alabama town of 2,000, with angry citizens filling a meeting last week and circulating petitions to remove the man many blame for the decision, Mayor Jack Scott.

Actor Charlie Sheen toured an Alabama neighborhood leveled by tornadoes and said Monday he wants to organize a relief event for victims in the state.

Rescue and relief efforts continue in seven states in the South as hundreds of thousands remain without power. University of Alabama ends school year early. The death toll from this week's tornadoes continued to climb Saturday morning, making the storms fueled by record winds the second worst in history.

President Obama arrives in Tuscaloosa after flying over the hard-hit region. 'We're going to make sure you're not forgotten,' he tells residents. About 300 people are known dead in the South, with 210 of them in Alabama.

Public and private assistance -- in the form of food, tarps and hugs -- began arriving Thursday in storm-battered Southern communities that lost nearly 300 people and saw once-familiar neighborhoods reduced to piles of debris.

Alabama is the latest state to suffer from a widespread southern storm system as early morning thunderstorms packing tornadoes and high winds snapped trees, cut off power and left people trapped in home and vehicles.