Storms blamed for 3 deaths, water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi

There are two water-treatment plants, with the larger one near a reservoir that provides most of the water supply, in Jackson, Mississippi, the United States [Rogelio V Solis/AP]

Severe storms that brought damaging winds, heavy rains and flash flooding to parts of the Midwest and the South in the United States were blamed for the deaths of three people, while a water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi exacerbated by recent flooding is causing major low-water pressure problems.

Hundreds of thousands of residents in Michigan were without electricity on Tuesday morning after powerful storms toppled trees and downed thousands of power lines in the state a day earlier, including a power line that electrocuted a 14-year-old girl.