Updated

The latest developments on the severe storms across the U.S. (all times local):

1:20 p.m.

Parts of central and north Alabama and northwest Georgia are spending Christmas on the lookout for more heavy rain and flooding.

Heavy rain already is falling in areas stretching across Alabama, from the Mississippi state line west of Tuscaloosa to the Georgia state line east of Anniston.

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for three counties.

Tornadoes are possible in parts of Alabama north of the I-20 corridor, with other damaging winds of up to 60 mph possible.

Northwest Georgia also continues to receive heavy rain, with flash flood warnings issued.

Residents are advised to stay off the roads. Drivers who do encounter flooded roads are warned to turn around, as authorities say most flood deaths occur in vehicles.

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12:25 p.m.

Authorities say three of the six people killed in storms that rolled across Tennessee were found in a submerged car.

The Columbia Police Department said in a news release that the bodies of three people were found in a car submerged in a Maury County creek Thursday afternoon.

The names of the victims have not been released, but the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said the deceased are a 19-year-old female and two 22-year-old males. The agency says the deaths were weather-related.

The unseasonably warm, severe weather also was responsible for seven deaths in Mississippi and one in Arkansas.

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4:20 a.m.

Some survivors of deadly storms across the Southeast lost their homes and belongings, but say they're thankful to see another Christmas.

Residents of the hardest-hit communities were forced to take stock of their losses Thursday after unseasonably severe weather spawned tornadoes and killed at least 14 people in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.

Barbara Perkins and her husband hunkered in a closet of their home in Falkner, Mississippi, when powerful winds peeled the roof off and sucked up a heavy air conditioning unit. An insurance agent told the couple Thursday their home was a total loss.

Perkins' neighbors weren't as fortunate. Two died in a home nearby.

Despite being newly homeless, Perkins said the tragedy helped her "stop and realize what Christmas is all about."