Four people have died as a storm system that produced several tornadoes continues to wreak havoc in the South.
Tekiria Rogers, 18, was killed 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 car, killing a man on Landis Highway on Sunday morning.
Saturday’s storms produced 37 proto-tornadoes across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, leaving structural damage in their wake.
On Sunday evening, the National Weather Service released preliminary estimates of the strength of multiple tornadoes that struck Texas on Saturday. The weather service said in a statement that those tornadoes included a severe vortex in the Porter Heights area of Montgomery County, estimated to have reached EF-3 on a strength scale of 0 to 5, with EF-5 being the strongest.
The initial measurement of EF-3 means the tornado likely had sustained winds of at least 136 mph.
Another EF-3 tornado touched down along Interstate 124 in Chambers County, the weather service said. It also noted EF-2 damage on the ground in the county, although it was not clear if this was due to the same tornado.
The weather service classified the vortex that circled the ground for about 9 miles in Brazoria County as a primary EF-2, indicating it was “strong” with sustained winds of at least 111 mph. The Meteorological Authority confirmed the death of one person, and said that an unspecified number of people were injured, and an elementary school was “severely damaged,” according to the statement.
The weaker tornadoes included an initial 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 reportedly landed in Bayshore Park, needed to produce winds of at least 65 mph to make an EF-0.
The stronger of the two tornadoes was only 250 yards on the ground but caused “significant roof damage to a few homes,” the weather service said.
Surveys are still ongoing, and preliminary classifications of other eddies are expected to be released in the coming days.
Videos on social media showed fallen trees in Bayou Chicot, Louisiana, downed power lines and structural damage to homes in Conroe, Texas.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said more than 300 responders and 180 assets, including search and rescue teams, were deployed to help support the state’s storm response.
“Texas state agencies are working hard to help their Texas citizens and have begun assessing the damage,” Patrick, the acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of state, said in a statement.
On Sunday, the same storm system moved eastward, leaving it behind 20 million people from the East Gulf Coast to the Carolinas are at risk of severe weather.
Heavy rain, damaging winds, hail and severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes are expected on Sunday over an area extending from Florida to southern Virginia. Jacksonville, Florida; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; Atlanta is among the cities at risk.
Sunday’s storms have already produced damaging wind gusts of nearly 50 mph across the Southeast.
Hurricane watches from North Carolina to northern Florida, including the cities of Jacksonville; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina, had expired by Sunday evening, and was replaced by expiring tornado warnings Sunday night in parts of Pennsylvania.
Severe risks diminished Sunday as the storm front moved north and east and appeared to produce fewer severe thunderstorms. The weather service office in Lexington, Kentucky, said in its forecast that small hailstones and gusty winds were possible early Monday.
A video clip spread on social media showed hailstones falling quickly in Tallahassee, Florida, earlier on Sunday.
Thousands of utility customers across the South were without power Sunday evening, 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 Power outage. United States.
The outages reversed the direction of the system that produced the weekend’s storms — a low-pressure wave that turned winds into a cauldron of unstable air, thunderstorms, hail and rain. The unusual weather, which often occurs when spring and fall end in summer, is due in part to cold air colliding with the rare warmth of December.
High temperatures in parts of Texas could exceed the 90-degree mark early in the week, the weather service said. Federal forecasters said the Southeast could see temperatures high in the 70s, even as cold air pulls in behind that hurricane-provoking front.
More than 9,500 flights into, into or from the United States have been delayed, and nearly 500 flights have been canceled as of Sunday evening, according to FlightAware.com.
Earlier in the day, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston saw more than 320 flights delayed and 100 canceled; Charlotte Douglas International Airport had more than 720 flight delays and 30 cancellations; Miami International Airport saw more than 320 flight delays and 30 flight cancellations, according to FlightAware.com.