The storm system that has produced multiple tornadoes and hazardous conditions in the South has caused the death of at least four people through the weekend.
Two deaths were reported with several more injured as multiple tornadoes touches down in Natchez and 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 vehicle, killing a man on Landis Highway on Sunday morning. Madison Polston, spokesperson for the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office, said there were “multiple touchdown points” in the county between Liverpool and Hillcrest Village and Alvin. She said that so far officials knew of around 10 damaged homes but were still working to determine the extent of the damage.
Saturday’s storms produced 36 preliminary tornadoes across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, with the National Weather Service’s severe storm tracker indicated the system was moving east through Alabama into Georgia shortly before 4 a.m. The agency issued severe thunderstorm warnings with the possibility of tornadoes in western Georgia and the northwestern tip of Florida directly above the Gulf of Mexico.
As of Sunday, the storm system pushed its way east, leaving over 20 million people from the eastern Gulf Coast to the Carolinas at risk of extreme weather. Tornado watches are in effect from North Carolina to north Florida, including in the cities of Jacksonville; Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina. Storms that form through Sunday afternoon will be capable of producing 70 mph wind gusts as well as small hai; severe risk will diminish by Sunday evening.
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