An Alabama community seems to have been 'wiped off the map' by extreme storms and tornadoes, a local emergency official said

• An Alabama community has been seemingly leveled by an outbreak of severe weather, an official said.
• "It's absolutely looking like a small community has been wiped off the map," said the official.

Extreme storms and tornadoes ripped through parts of the southern United States late Tuesday into Wednesday morning, killing at least two in Alabama where a local emergency official said a community had been leveled by the severe weather.

"It's absolutely looking like a small community has been wiped off the map," Christina Thornton, director of the Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency, said during a Wednesday morning interview with Fox Weather.

Thornton described the devastation as a "bad sight" with mobile homes "absolutely destroyed."

"It's really devastating to think about when you look across the field, and you know that there were homes there the day before on your way to work, and when you're leaving work this morning, they're not going to be there," Thornton said.

According to Thornton, two people were killed in the Flatwood community just outside of the Alabama capital of Montgomery when a tornado tore through the area. Preliminary findings from the National Weather Service suggest the tornado reached wind speeds up to 110 mph.

The victims — whose identities have not been released — "were in their home that was struck by a tree due to the tornado," Thornton told the Associated Press. The emergency official noted that others in the area were also injured.

"Thanks to the heroic efforts of our first responders, many other lives were saved. We pray for our community as we mourn this tragic loss of lives," Thornton told CNN.

Areas were also pelted by large hail as the punishing storms made their way across the South. As of 11 a.m. CT, more than 33,000 customers were without power across Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama, according to Poweroutage.us.

Meanwhile, preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center showed that there were 36 tornado reports across Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The agency also forecast severe thunderstorms across parts of southeast Georgia and Florida on Wednesday.

For the third winter in a row, La Niña conditions developed in the Pacific Ocean, according to NOAA's winter outlook. La Niña is a weather pattern that occurs when waters in the Pacific are cooler than normal, causing the jet stream to push northward, carrying moisture with it.

Research indicates that La Niña years such as this one feature more severe weather, including damaging twisters, according to NOAA.