violent circulation. >> reporter: the wheel of wicked weather has triggered torrential rains and spawned more than 300 tornados this month alone. >> it just went by real fast like 30 seconds. >> reporter: one of the victims was an off-duty police officer in northern mississippi, who died while shielding his daughter from a falling tree on a camping trip. she wasn't hurt. in tennessee, a possible twister touched down near memphis. >> everything else came down. the living room, the dining room, the bathroom, the bedroom, the kitchen. the whole house shifted. >> reporter: on the university of tennessee, giant trees toppled trapping students. >> it just got really loud really fast. >> reporter: an uprooted tree sliced this building in half in northwest georgia. and dozens of rivers are rising at record rates. more than 15 inches of rain in five days forcing thousands of evacuations. commuting requires a little creativity testing even the most hardened mail carrier. >> at what point will you stop