BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) – Storms that left shattered houses and broken trees in Alabama and Mississippi moved to Georgia and Florida on Thursday, alerting residents with morning alerts, as meteorologists said the threat of a dangerous climate would go up on the South Atlantic coast.
About 20,000 homes and businesses were without power and the weather service said at least two people were injured when an apparent tornado struck southwest Alabama, destroying a home, but the region seemed to have escaped the type of horrible toll that many feared after the ominous predictions of monsters tornadoes and huge hail.
Meteorologists issued a series of tornado warnings in the region where Alabama, Georgia and Florida intersect, but there were no immediate reports of major damage.
The National Weather Service office in central Alabama said teams were spreading out on Thursday to assess the damage in at least 12 counties where tornadoes may have landed.
Severe dispersed storms were expected to spread across parts of eastern Georgia, through the Carolinas to the southeastern tip of Virginia, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Forecast Center. Other severe isolated storms were possible from southern Ohio to the central Appalachians.
“Significant tornadoes, wind damage and heavy hail will be possible from morning to afternoon,” said the Storm Prediction Center. “Severe storms will also be possible from parts of the eastern Gulf coast to the south and the center of the Appalachians.”
The Atlanta metropolitan area has been hit by heavy rains, with intense rays and strong gusts of up to 80 km / h. Morehouse College tweeted that it was delaying the opening of its campus to 11 am and that faculty and staff should not be arriving before that time. All classes before that should be taught virtually, he said.
In South Carolina, the severe climate threat prompted the state Senate president to warn senators to stay home on Thursday, while urging the team to work remotely for their safety. House Speaker Jay Lucas said the chamber would meet in less than an hour on Thursday to address routine motions before a budget debate next week – and then postpone it.
“If you are in a situation where it is dangerous to come, I am asking you not to come,” said Lucas. “If you can come, give us a quorum and do those few things that we need to do, we will get out of here in a hurry.”
Almost all of South Carolina is at moderate risk of severe storms. The forecast caused several school systems in the state to cancel face-to-face classes on Thursday and make students and teachers meet online.
On Wednesday, possible tornadoes in Alabama knocked down trees, knocked out power lines and damaged homes. Some of the worst problems occurred in rural Clarke County, where officials said two people were injured when a house was destroyed and several others were damaged.
Between Montgomery and Birmingham, Chilton County, a storm destroyed at least three houses, including that of resident Jimmy Baker.
“So, about a minute before I got here, we jumped … into the hall closet, a little closet,” Baker told WSFA-TV. “And only we hear. You know, the sound of the house falling. We were saved. We thank the Lord for that, ”he said.
In northern Alabama, where forecasters said up to 15 centimeters of rain had fallen, a woman rescuers found clinging to a tree after her car was flooded by Morgan County floods was treated at a hospital, but details about her condition were not were immediately available. Schools were closed in neighboring Madison County because of the floods.
Roofs were ripped from houses in Moundville, south of Tuscaloosa. “There are a lot of trees felled. I think it must be a tornado; got out of here very quickly ”, helps Michael Brown, whose family owns Moundville Ace Hardware and Building.
Additional damage has been reported in Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi, where the video showed an apparent tornado in Brookhaven. Strong winds knocked down plaques and trees in northeastern Texas, and hailstones the size of baseballs have been reported near the Alabama-Mississippi line, the weather service said.
More than 70,000 homes and businesses were left without power at one point from Texas to Alabama, and the radar showed additional storms moving through the region when initial cleaning work began.
Governor Kay Ivey put Alabama in a state of emergency, and communities across the south used social media to share the location of tornado shelters.
Debris spreads over climate-damaged properties at the intersection of County Road 24 and 37 in Clanton, Alabama, the morning after a major outbreak of heavy storms across the southeast, Thursday, March 18, 2021. (AP Photo / Vasha Hunt)