HOUSTON, Texas –
At least two people were killed and six more were injured when multiple tornadoes touched down in Texas and Mississippi on Saturday, damaging homes and overturning vehicles as the storm system moved east across Alabama early Sunday.
The U.S. National Weather Service’s severe storm tracker indicated the system was moving east across Alabama toward Georgia shortly before 4 a.m. The agency issued severe thunderstorm warnings with the possibility of tornadoes in western Georgia and extreme northwest Florida directly over the Gulf of Mexico.
One person died in the Liverpool area, located south of Houston, and four people suffered injuries that were not considered critical, according to Madison Polston of the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office.
There were “multiple landing points” in the county between Liverpool, Hillcrest Village and Alvin. Authorities knew of about 10 damaged homes but were working to determine the extent of the damage, Polston said.
In Mississippi, one person died in Adams County and two people were injured in Franklin County, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
The National Weather Service said two tornadoes hit Bude and the city of Brandon, ripping roofs off several buildings.
“These storms will likely get much worse this afternoon and overnight as they move east,” said Josh Lichter, a meteorologist with the US National Weather Service.
At least six tornadoes reportedly touched down in the Houston area, although they may find out there were more when crews go out to survey the damage, and there was damage in the area from both tornadoes and straight-line winds, Litcher said .
North of Houston, mobile homes were damaged or destroyed in Katy and Porter Heights, where the doors of a fire station were blown off, the weather service said.
The storms also caused departure delays of more than an hour Saturday afternoon at Houston’s two major airports, Bush Intercontinental and Hobby, according to the FlightAware website.
About 71,000 utility customers were without power Saturday in Mississippi and the number is expected to rise, said Malary White, communications director for the state Emergency Management Agency.
As of around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, nearly 81,000 customers were without power in the state, up from 93,000 around 1 a.m., according to electric utility tracking website PowerOutage.us.
The emergency management agency had no official reports of damage on Saturday. First responders focused on ensuring safety and making sure everyone was present, White said.
“We anticipate more thorough damage assessments beginning in the early morning hours,” he said.
The U.S. National Weather Service office in Birmingham, Alabama, issued severe thunderstorm warnings overnight for several areas in the southern part of the state, advising residents to seek shelter to avoid possible damaging winds of up to 60 miles per hour. h (60 mph).
