Storms and tornadoes cut swath across South, causing damage and killing 3
Relentless wind and rain continued to pummel large swaths of the South on Tuesday, causing tornadoes, sparking a flash flood emergency in Alabama and damaging homes from Texas to Virginia.
The National Weather Service issued the flash flood emergency for the Birmingham, Ala., area at the start of rush hour, warning that torrential rains — as much as 5 inches in some areas — had fallen and another 2 inches were possible before the storm system continued moving east.
Officials at Jefferson County Emergency Management urged residents to stay off the roads because so many were flooded.
Strong winds blowing behind a line of storms were toppling trees across central Alabama, where soil was saturated with water. In the Birmingham suburb of Homewood, residents huddled on the second-floor balcony of an apartment complex that became flooded. Rescuers in a small boat paddled through the parking lot, past submerged cars.
Parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, as well as corners of Arkansas and Georgia, were at enhanced risk for the worst weather, according to the national Storm Prediction Center. That zone is home to more than 11 million people and includes the cities of Nashville and Birmingham, as well as Baton Rouge, La., and Jackson, Miss., forecasters said.
“We’ll see all three threats — as far as hail, wind and tornadoes — on Tuesday,” said Mike Edmonston, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Mississippi.
A jury in Rome will weigh the fate of two young California men charged with murdering an Italian police officer while they were on vacation in 2019.
As of Tuesday evening, more than 350,000 customers were without power from Texas to Maryland, including 143,000 in Mississippi and 76,000 in Virginia, according to poweroutage.us.
With warnings about possible tornadoes stretching from Louisiana eastward, dozens of school systems in Mississippi and Alabama dismissed students early so buses and cars would not have to be on the road during potentially violent weather.
The storms have been responsible for three deaths this week.
A Tennessee woman died when a tree fell on her home as storms moved through the state Tuesday, Weakley County Emergency Management Director Ray Wiggington told WKRN-TV. He said at least six mobile homes were damaged by the falling tree around 4 a.m.
In Bonaire in central Georgia, Carla Harris, 55, was killed after a tree fell onto her home Monday, Houston County emergency officials said.
At least 11 Tennessee counties were hit by possible EF-0 tornadoes Tuesday, said Faith Borden, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Nashville.
Strong winds and heavy rain whipped through Mississippi’s capital of Jackson late Tuesday, while thunder rattled windows. The high winds knocked out electricity in many neighborhoods and cracked limbs off trees and sent them onto nearby houses. The storms left streets littered with branches and leaves.
At least eight people were injured when storms that brought tornadoes to Texas flipped tractor-trailers on an interstate and damaged structures. Three drivers were hospitalized, one with serious injuries, after their tractor-trailers overturned in the storms Monday night along Interstate 35 near Waxahachie, about 30 miles south of Dallas, officials said.
Health experts expected some vaccinated people to contract COVID-19. But more research is needed on exactly why it is happening now, in small numbers.
Five others in Texas were hospitalized after the storm came through Ellis County, an official said. County Judge Todd Little told KXAS-TV that 25 to 50 structures were damaged.
Toward a more sustainable California
Get Boiling Point, our newsletter exploring climate change, energy and the environment, and become part of the conversation — and the solution.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
A tornado that struck Virginia’s Northumberland County near the Chesapeake Bay destroyed one home and severely damaged a few others Monday. There were no injuries, according to weather service officials. The tornado, with winds up to 120 mph, tracked for about five miles. On Monday, tornadoes also touched down in South Carolina and southern Kentucky, while a possible tornado hit West Virginia.
The weather first turned rough in Mississippi on Sunday, where, just south of Yazoo City, Vickie Savell was left with only scraps of the new mobile home into which she and her husband had moved just eight days ago. It had been lifted off its foundation and deposited about 25 feet away.
“Oh, my God, my first new house in 40 years, and it’s gone,” she said Monday, amid the roar of chainsaws as people worked to clear roads.
In Mississippi, forecasters confirmed 12 tornadoes Sunday night, including the Yazoo City twister, which stretched for 30 miles, and another that moved through suburbs south of Jackson that produced a damage track 1,000 yards wide.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
