Natural Disaster, The South | featured news

Officials are warning residents in low-lying areas to leave, as the Mississippi River approached a crest Monday.

Memphis area residents were warned on Saturday that they should not be fooled by sunny skies because the Mississippi River was gradually starting to "wrap its arms" around the city and rise to record levels.

An engorged Mississippi river spilled out onto huge swaths of farmland in the American South and Midwest on Wednesday, prompting massive flooding from Minnesota to Louisiana.

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.

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.