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(Reuters) -A tornado hit small communities south of Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday and inflicted extensive damage, police said, and local media reported multiple injuries.
The National Weather Service issued tornado watches for much of the state and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department warned residents that the twister was heading toward communities there.
Residents of Pelham, a city of roughly 21,000 people about 20 miles (32 km) south of Birmingham, were also told to take shelter as a "second round" was expected, the Alabama news website Al.com reported.
The website said "multiple injuries" had been suffered in Shelby County, southeast of Birmingham, but said the number of people hurt and extent of their injuries was still unclear.
"We have received multiple reports of damage in different areas of Shelby County. This includes trees and power lines down across the roadway," the Shelby County Sheriff's Office said on Twitter.
"Please avoid driving on the roadway unless absolutely necessary to allow public safety personnel time to clear these areas," the sheriff's office said.
Utility lines were downed along Highways 119 and 31 in northern Pelham, Pelham police said in a second tweet and images posted on social media showed damaged homes and trees and power lines that had been knocked down.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los AngelesEditing by Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis)
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