Governor, crews survey tornado damage

A volatile storm ripping across the U.S. spawned tornadoes that killed a young boy and his mother in Louisiana, smashed mobile homes and chicken houses in Mississippi and threatened neighboring Southern states with more punishing weather Wednesday.

In northern Louisiana, it took hours for authorities to find the bodies of a mother and child reported missing after a tornado swept away their mobile home. The Caddo Parish Coroner's Office said the body of 8-year-old Nikolus Little was found around 11 p.m.

Tuesday in a wooded area. His mother, Yoshiko A. Smith, 30, was found dead under storm debris around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.The boy's father had left to buy groceries before the storm hit. Wednesday’s forecast called for more severe storms with additional tornadoes expected across an area of the Gulf Coast region populated by nearly 3 million people from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama.

A steady stream of tornado warnings was issued Wednesday across portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.