ALABAMA, USA — A series of tornadoes have pummeled Alabama, reducing some homes to rubble while leaving at least five dead and thousands without power.

Emergency workers braced for more storms Thursday while trying to account for all residents in the affected areas.

Calhoun County Coroner Patrick Brown confirmed five deaths in that county.

Multiple people were reported injured there and in hard-hit Shelby County, near Birmingham, where homes were flattened.

Storm warnings stretched from eastern Mississippi, across Alabama and into western Georgia — and northward through much of Tennessee and Kentucky.