Severe storms pound flood-ravaged American South with heavy rain, tornadoes and large hail

A strong storm system that brought historic floods to parts of the US South and claimed lives of six people is still affecting the region with heavy rainfall, strong winds, tornadoes and large hail.

This pattern will be changing over the coming days as the deep moisture feed from the Gulf of Mexico weakens but river levels will remain quite high across the region as all of the rainwater slowly drains away.

A severe weather outbreak crossed the entire state of Arkansas on Sunday, March 13, leading to at least 4 tornadoes, large hail and flash flooding. Many supercells formed early afternoon and pushed northeast across the state, eventually crossing the Mississippi River.

Up to 7.6 cm (3 inches) hail was reported near Jessieville.

Video courtesy StormChasingVideo

The following video, courtesy of Live Storms Media, shows a 360-degree view of a tornadic supercell that impacted Grady, Arkansas on Sunday, March 13. This supercell quickly wrapped up and produced tornadoes across eastern Arkansas southeast of Pine Bluff.

Video courtesy Live Storms Media

A tornado southwest of Pine Bluff, near Star City, Arkansas recorded in various stages:

Video courtesy Live Storms Media

Massive hailstorm with golfball sized hail recorded just south of Little Rock, Arkansas:

Video courtesy StormChasingVideo

A line of severe thunderstorms that hit Louisiana on Saturday, March 12, added more rain to flooded rivers across the lower Mississippi Valley. Mike Steele, a spokesman for the Louisiana emergency office, said areas of the state had received more than 600 mm (23.6 inches) of rain during the deluge.

President Barack Obama has declared flooding in Louisiana a state of emergency.

Featured image: Tornado near Star City, Arkansas by Brandon Clement. Credit: Live Storms Media