Tornadoes and storms on Saturday continued to strike the South, which has been battered by extreme weather conditions since mid-March.
Six people have died in the south, including five in Calhoun County, Alabama, and one in Coweta County, Georgia, since Thursday, when a second wave of extreme weather hit the region, officials said.
Three of the dead were relatives of Kalvin Bowers from Calhoun County, who said, “I lost a brother-in-law. I lost a sister. I lost a niece. I have a brother in the hospital. And I have a niece in the hospital.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp visited communities affected by the storm on Saturday.
“It is very different from anything I have ever seen,” he said. “Only total destruction in many places.”
At least 24 tornadoes have landed in Georgia and Alabama since Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
The NWS office in Birmingham, Alabama, said on Saturday that he had registered at least six tornadoes since Thursday, it has reached force EF2, which means sustained winds of at least 111 mph.
The meteorological service office in Atlanta said Friday that at least one tornado exhibited evidence of 170 mph winds.
About 30 million people in the South and Mid-Atlantic remained under the threat of bad weather.
The National Weather Service on Saturday called for an “increased risk” of more storms and a “moderate risk” of excessive rainfall in parts of Lower Mississippi and the Tennessee Valley by Sunday morning.
Storms are also possible in the Mid-Atlantic until Monday morning, meteorologists said.
“The main risks associated with strong storms are frequent lightning, strong gusts, hail and tornadoes,” said the NWS in a forecasting discussion.
