Four people have died as a storm system that has produced multiple tornadoes continues to wreak havoc in the South.
Tykeria Rogers, 18, died in Adams County, Mississippi, when a tree fell on her home, according to Adams County Emergency Management. Another death was reported in Lowndes County, Mississippi, while one death was reported in Brazoria County, Texas. A fourth death was reported in Iredell County, North Carolina, after a tree fell on a vehicle, killing a man on Landis Highway Sunday morning.
Saturday’s storms produced a preliminary 37 tornadoes in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, leaving structural damage in their wake.
On Sunday night, the National Weather Service issued preliminary estimates of the strength of the multiple tornadoes that hit Texas on Saturday. They included a severe vortex in the Porter Heights area of Montgomery County that was estimated to have reached EF-3 on a strength scale of 0 to 5, with EF-5 being the most powerful, the weather service said in a statement. .
The preliminary EF-3 measurement means the tornado likely had sustained winds of at least 136 mph.
Another preliminary EF-3 tornado moved along Highway 124 in Chambers County, the weather service said. He also noted EF-2 damage to the ground in the county, although it was unclear if it was due to the same tornado.
The weather service rated a vortex that spun on the ground for nearly 9 miles in Brazoria County as a preliminary EF-2, indicating it was “strong,” with sustained winds of at least 111 mph. The weather service confirmed one death and said an unspecified number of people were injured and that an elementary school suffered “maximum damage,” according to the statement.
The weaker tornadoes included a preliminary EF-1 and EF-0 in Galveston County, the weather service said. The first would need sustained winds of at least 86 mph; the latter, which is said to have landed at Bayshore Park, needed to produce winds of at least 65 mph to produce EF-0.
The stronger of the two tornadoes was on the ground for only 250 meters but caused “significant roof damage to some homes,” the weather service said.
Surveys are ongoing and preliminary ratings for other vortices are expected to be released in the coming days.
Videos on social media showed downed trees in Bayou Chicot, Louisiana, and downed power lines and structural damage to homes in Conroe, Texas.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said more than 300 first responders and 180 assets, including search and rescue teams, have been deployed to assist in the state’s response to the storm.
“Texas state agencies are working hard to help their fellow Texans and have begun assessing the damage,” Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of the state, said in a statement.
On Sunday, the same storm system made its way east, leaving more than 20 million people from the eastern Gulf Coast to the Carolinas are at risk of extreme weather.
Heavy rain, damaging winds, hail and severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes were forecast Sunday in an area stretching from Florida to southern Virginia. Jacksonville, Florida; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; and Atlanta are among the cities in the risk zone.
Sunday’s storms have already produced damaging wind gusts of nearly 50 mph across the Southeast.
Tornadoes are observed from North Carolina to northern Florida, including the cities of Jacksonville; Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina, expired Sunday night, replaced by tornado warnings that expired Sunday night for parts of Pennsylvania.
The severe risk decreased Sunday as the storm front moved north and east and appeared to produce fewer severe storms. The weather service office in Lexington, Kentucky, said in its forecast that small hail and gusty winds were possible into the early hours of Monday.
Video on social media showed hail falling rapidly in Tallahassee, Florida, early Sunday.
Thousands of utility customers across the South were without power Sunday night, including more than 33,500 in Mississippi, more than 26,000 in West Virginia, more than 48,000 in Ohio, more than 25,000 in Pennsylvania and more than 10,000 in Texas, according to Poweroutage. US.
The blackouts reflected the direction of the system that produced the weekend’s storms: a wave of low pressure that churned up winds into a cauldron of unstable air, thunderstorms, hail and rain. The unusual weather, which occurs most often as spring and fall close out summer, is partly the result of cold air colliding with December’s unusual heat.
High temperatures in some parts of Texas could surpass the 90-degree mark early in the week, the weather service said. The Southeast could see high temperatures in the 70s, even as cold air creeps in behind that tornado-spawning front, federal forecasters said.
According to FlightAware.com, more than 9,500 flights in, into or out of the U.S. have been delayed and nearly 500 canceled as of Sunday night.
Earlier in the day, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston experienced more than 320 flights delayed and 100 canceled; Charlotte Douglas International Airport suffered more than 720 flights delayed and 30 canceled; and Miami International Airport experienced more than 320 delays and 30 cancellations, according to FlightAware.com.
