Tornadoes rip through Deep South. And this storm system isn't over.
The severe weather systems are affecting peoples throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, and have already left at least three dead.
The severe weather systems are affecting peoples throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, and have already left at least three dead.
Strong storms tore through the Gulf Coast states on Tuesday, with several tornadoes in Mississippi and Louisiana killing at least three people, injuring dozens, and destroying scores of buildings.
The violent weather system, which also hit Alabama and Florida and is expected to reach Georgia and the Carolinas later Wednesday, was one of the strongest the region has seen in years. In Sugar Hill, a trailer park in the southern Louisiana community of Convent, two people have been confirmed to have died with an additional two or three missing and dozens more taken to a local hospital. Around 140 of the 160 mobile homes in the park were destroyed by the storms.
鈥淭his is some of the worst damage that I've seen in my 36 years with the state police,鈥� Louisiana State Police superintendent Colonel Michael Edmonson told Reuters.
The sheriff of St. James Parish, where the mobile home park is located, said that despite the severity of the weather, authorities were continuing to search the park for survivors.
鈥淲e never had anything like this; we never had this many people injured in one event, and so much destruction in one event,鈥� Sheriff Willy Martin told WVUE news, according to the Associated Press. 鈥淲e won't stop searching until we're satisfied we've searched every pile.鈥�
The governors of Louisiana and Mississippi declared a state of emergency in the areas like St. James that experienced the heaviest weather, and thousands of residents throughout the area lost power. Government offices and schools in those two states were closed early, and schools in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida cancelled their Wednesday classes.
The National Weather Service said that a tornado had hit a New Orleans airport and another was reported in Pensacola, Fla., accompanied by high winds and property damage.
Following the Tuesday storms, flash flood watches and wind advisories were issued throughout Georgia and Alabama where 1 to 2 inches of rain were predicted there. The Carolinas could also be at risk of flooding, and the storms there are expected to bring wind, hail, and tornadoes.
The National Weather Service reports:
Material from the Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.