JACKSON (Mississippi, US), Dec 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Four people are dead as a storm system that has produced multiple tornadoes wreaked havoc on the South.
In Mississippi, Tykeria Rogers, 18, was killed in Adams County when a tree fell on her home, according to Adams County Emergency Management. Another death was reported in Lowndes County.
One death was reported in Brazoria County, Texas. A fourth was reported in Iredell County, North Carolina, after a tree fell on a vehicle, killing a man on Landis Highway on Sunday morning.
Saturday’s storms produced more than two dozen preliminary and confirmed tornadoes across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, leaving structural damage in their wake.
On Sunday evening, the National Weather Service issued preliminary strength estimates for multiple tornadoes that struck Texas on Saturday. They included a severe vortex in the Porter Heights area of Montgomery County estimated to have reached EF3 on a strength scale of 0-5, with EF5 being the most potent, the weather service said in a statement.
The preliminary measurement of EF3 means the tornado most likely had sustained winds of at least 136 mph.
Another preliminary EF3 tornado sped along Highway 124 in Chambers County, the weather service said. It also noted EF2 damage on the ground in the county, though it was unclear whether it was from the same tornado.
The weather service rated a vortex that spun on the ground for nearly 9 miles in Brazoria County as a preliminary EF2, indicating it was “strong,” with sustained winds of at least 111 mph. The weather service confirmed a death and said that an unspecified number of people were injured and that an elementary school sustained “maximum damage,” according to the statement.
Weaker tornadoes included a preliminary EF1 and an EF0 in Galveston County, the weather service said. The first would need sustained winds of at least 86 mph; the latter, said to have touched down in Bayshore Park, needed to produce winds of at least 65 mph to make EF0.
The stronger of the two twisters was on the ground for only 250 yards, but it caused “significant roof damage to a few homes,” the weather service said.
Surveys are ongoing, and preliminary ratings for other vortexes were expected to be released in the coming days.
Another EF1 tornado was confirmed in Lamar County, Alabama, the National Weather Service said. Additional storm surveys will happen Monday in Shelby, St. Clair, Lowndes, Montgomery and Macon counties.
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 responders and 180 assets, including search-and-rescue teams, have been deployed to help support the state’s storm response.
“Texas state agencies are working hard to help their fellow Texans and have begun to assess the damage,” Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is out of the state, said in a statement.
On Sunday, the storm system pushed its way east, putting over20 million people from the eastern Gulf Coast to the Carolinas at risk of extreme weather.
The severe risk diminished 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 hail and gusty winds were possible into early Monday.
More than 10,200 flights within, into or out of the United States have been delayed, and nearly 500 were canceled as of Sunday evening, according to FlightAware.com.
The unusual weather weekend, which more often takes place when spring and fall bookend summer, is partly the result of cold air clashing with rare December warmth.
High temperatures in parts of Texas could break the 90-degree mark early in the week, the weather service said. The Southeast could get high temperatures in the 70s, even as cool air is drawn behind that tornado-sparking front, federal forecasters said. — NNN-AGENCIES
