Severe weather threat moves east after tornado-spawning storms hit Texas and Mississippi, leaving at least 2 dead

CNN
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The severe weather threat is moving to the Southeast and East Coast after violent tornadoes hit Texas and Mississippi, tearing up homes and leaving at least two people dead.

A Natchez, Mississippi, high school student died after a tree fell on a home, Adams County emergency officials said Saturday. Another person died in northern Brazoria County, Texas, where a tornado touched down in four different locations, according to Sheriff Bo Stallman.

Crews in the south were searching and assessing the damage as violent storms barreled toward the southeast. Cities from northern Florida to the Carolinas could see damaging wind gusts, large hail and possible tornadoes Sunday.

“Severe thunderstorms and embedded heavy precipitation will affect most of the eastern states through Sunday,” the National Weather Service said.

Tornado watches are in place Sunday morning for parts of southeast Louisiana and into Alabama and parts of Florida and Tennessee, according to the weather service.

More tornado sightings were reported Saturday as millions of Americans were threatened by strong twisters in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Stormchaser video shows a violent, long-lasting tornado barreling through McCall Creek in southwest central Mississippi on Saturday. In Porter, Texas, drone footage shows several houses with their roofs ripped off, shattered buildings and fallen trees.

More than 182,000 residents were without power Sunday morning across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.us. A majority of those outages were reported in Mississippi, where nearly 85,000 customers were without power as of 1 p.m. 2 a.m. ET.

Severe weather caused a partial power outage at Mississippi’s Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport, resulting in delays and cancellations, the airport said in a posts on social media. The power outage has since been resolved, the airport says.

On Sunday, the violent storm spreads to the southeast, the east coast and parts of the mid-Atlantic. The area includes the cities of Atlanta, Georgia and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.

“Run,” Anna Peterson told her husband after hearing the back door of her Brazoria County home open.

The couple hid in a closet with their puppies as the storm intensified, she told the CNN affiliate KHOU.

“About two or three minutes later it was over and then we opened the front door to look and it was all gone,” she said.

The five-wheel trailer that had been secured on Peterson’s property had been blown into the property next door and destroyed.

A tornado touched down in several different locations in a small area of ​​Brazoria County and had a quick impact, according to Sheriff Stallman.

“The damage has been extremely devastating,” he said.

Brazoria County officials were working to accommodate teachers and students at Walt Disney Elementary School after it experienced storm damage, according to Manvel Mayor Dan Davis.

Davis shared a photo from inside the school in a Facebook postwhich shows significant damage to the school’s ceiling and debris scattered along the floor.

“Recovery efforts throughout the area have begun, and I’m thankful to live in a county where people really care about each other,” Davis said. “Over the next few days, properties will be cleared, power will be restored and lives will begin to rebuild. Please continue to pray for all those affected!”

Residents in Montgomery County, which is about 80 miles north of Brazoria County, are also recovering from a possible tornado in their community.

Things went from “bad to worse” for Bill Hustus, who recounted KHOU that strong winds caused trees to fall on his house and destroyed a home in his community.

“There was a two-story house right there (across the street) that’s no longer there,” he said.

Tornadoes are much less common in the United States during December, averaging only about 40 — compared to the nearly 270 seen on average in May. This year, however, there have been 1,783 tornado reports per December 27 – well above the average of 1,347 reports.