Several dead after severe storms push through Southeast

April 3 (UPI) -- At least five people died due to severe weather in the U.S. Southeast, where many neighborhoods battened down Monday in anticipation of damaging winds, hail and tornadoes.

Louisiana's St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office said there were two deaths in the city of Breaux Bridge at about 9:30 a.m. on Sunday after a tornado flipped over a trailer and caused damage.

"The two occupants that were in the home at the time of the storm were killed. They have been identified as Francine Gotch, 38, and her daughter, Nevaeh Alexander, 3," the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

In Mississippi, two people died and a fifth person was reported dead in South Carolina.

There were at least three tornadoes in northeast Louisiana. At least 15 structures were damaged. There has been flooding and wind damage in central Mississippi, the National Weather Service said.

The severe weather system moved east through New Orleans, Alabama, the Florida panhandle, Georgia and South Carolina on Monday. The NWS issued flood, wind, thunderstorm, and tornado watches and warnings throughout the areas expected to be affected.

"Tornadoes and damaging wind are likely Monday, extending from southern Mississippi northeastward into South Carolina, with greatest tornado risk centered over southern Alabama. Damaging winds, possibly widespread and significant, are anticipated throughout much of the region," the NWS said earlier.

At least four school districts in southern Alabama -- Baldwin County Public Schools, Monroe County Public Schools, Mobile County Public Schools and Chickasaw City Schools -- said schools shut down on Monday ahead of the storm.