The Latest: Flash flooding, water rescues in Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Latest on storms moving across the South (all times local):

9:15 a.m.

The head of emergency management in a southwestern Mississippi County says they had an “extreme flash flooding event” following heavy rains that hit the area.

Glen Moore says authorities have had to rescue residents from about 25 area homes. He says they received more than nine inches (23 centimeters) of rain starting from around 3 p.m. Thursday to 3 a.m. Friday.

He’s asking people to stay away from roads that are barricaded.

He says they had to rescue one man whose car was swept away after he went around a barricade intended to keep people from passing through a flooded road.

Moore says the man was able to get out of the car and hold onto a tree until authorities could get a boat to rescue him.

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7:45 a.m.

Teams are heading out to determine the extent of damage in Mississippi after a line of storms moved across the South.

Glenn Flynn with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said in an email Friday morning that no deaths or serious injuries had been reported from the storms.

Officials had opened three emergency shelters in Forrest and Jones counties, but Flynn said only a few people were there early Friday.

The National Weather Service planned to check the Vicksburg area for evidence of a tornado. Forecaster Mike Edmunston said there had been at least two dozen water rescues in the Hattiesburg area.

The storm dumped up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The storms were moving in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and western North Carolina on Friday.

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6:45 a.m.

A storm that dumped up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in Louisiana and Mississippi moved into Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and western North Carolina on Friday.

The National Weather Service posted flash flood watches and warnings for much of the South.

The storm system was blamed for a death in Louisiana earlier this week when a tree fell on a camper. Forecasters planned to check Friday on a possible tornado near Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Forecasters said up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain were possible in northern Alabama and central and north Georgia. A flood warning was also issued for Asheville, North Carolina.

Water flooded more than a dozen homes in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, and more than two dozen water rescues were reported in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, because of the rain.