LIVE COVERAGE: Tornado emergency issued for southwest Georgia county

WALB is covering severe storms in the Albany, GA area. 

CNN report:

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The National Weather Service issued a tornado emergency for Sumter County in southwest Georgia at 1 p.m. Wednesday, a rare incident only used when confirmed tornadoes are likely to cause catastrophic damage.

The emergency warning was part of a system of storms barreling toward the Southeastern United States expected to leave nearly 60 million people at risk of tornadoes, damaging winds and thunderstorms Wednesday, according to a CNN forecast.

A storms will affect Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina before moving into the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, according to the National Weather Service. The storms are expected to come in two waves: one in the morning, and another in the afternoon and evening.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the broad area, which means that conditions are favorable for severe weather.

Strong winds and baseball-size hail are expected in parts of Alabama, where Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency ahead of the weather event.


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