Officials assessed the damage on Sunday as a severe storm system moved across the southern United States, causing damage. tornado and killed at least four people.
Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, said at least 45 tornado damage occurred in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Report. Crews will conduct damage surveys to confirm a tornado.
Storms during a busy holiday travel period caused some dangerous road conditions and flight delays or cancellations at some of the nation’s busiest airports. As of Sunday afternoon, more than 600 flights were delayed at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to flight tracking company FlightAware.
“It’s not unheard of, but it’s pretty rare to have an outbreak of this magnitude late in the year,” said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.
In the Houston area, National Weather Service storm investigators confirmed at least five tornadoes struck north and south of the city on Saturday.
At least one person died. Madison Polston of the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office said the 48-year-old woman was killed about 100 feet (30 meters) from her home in the Liverpool area, south of Houston. discovered. She said the exact cause of death was not yet known.
Four other people were injured in Brazoria County, but the injuries were not serious, Polston said, adding that at least 40 homes and buildings were severely damaged.
About 30 homes were destroyed and about 50 others suffered significant damage, said Jason Smith, a Montgomery County official north of Houston.
In Statesville, North Carolina, north of Charlotte, a 70-year-old man died Sunday when a tree fell on the pickup truck he was driving. Highway Patrol trooper DJ Maffucci said “it was just a freak accident,” and he believed Matthew Tipple, of Cleveland, North Carolina, died at the scene.
“It’s very sad and the timing is terrible,” Mavchi said, adding that the storm caused some downed trees and “quite a lot of debris.”
Two people were killed in Mississippi during the storm, officials said. An 18-year-old girl died Saturday night when a tree fell on her home in Natchez, Adams County, emergency management spokesman Neifa Hardy said. Two other people in the home were injured.
Another person died in Lowndes County and at least eight people were injured across the state, officials said.
The National Weather Service said two tornadoes struck around the cities of Bude and Brandon, knocking off the roofs of several buildings.
Storm damage was also reported in the northern Alabama city of Athens, northwest of Huntsville.
City spokesperson Holly Holman said most of the damage from the storm early Sunday morning occurred downtown. It dropped large HVAC equipment from the top of a building and tore off the roof of a bookstore, she said. She added that a full-size, stripped-down military helicopter fell from its pole on display.
“I walked out on the porch and I could hear it roaring,” she said of the storm. “I think we were very lucky that we were attacked late at night. If it had been during a busy time, I think we would have been injured and maybe even killed.”
More than 40,000 people in Mississippi were still without power as of Sunday afternoon, according to power tracking website PowerOutage.us. About 10,000 customers each were without power in Texas, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia, the report said.
Storm closes some roads in western North Carolina, causing widespread damage across the region Hurricane Helen this fall. That includes a portion of US 441, also known as the Great Smoky Mountains Highway, which was closed north of Bryson City due to high winds.
In Bumps Bay, Tenn., Justin Fromkin, president of the Raising Hope disaster relief organization, worked as hard as he could on Sunday at the organization’s supply tent, which was filled with clothes and food as rain fell about 6 inches (152 mm).
He has spent the past few months delivering aid to areas in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee still hit by Helen. Fromkin said the ground remains unstable in some areas of Mount Helen, a problem exacerbated by Sunday’s downpour.
