- Severe storms have battered the South over the past few weeks, killing more than two-dozen people.
- There will still be the potential for a few isolated tornadoes on Thursday as well.
- Atlanta is in the area at greatest risk for severe weather on Thursday.
Severe storms ripped through southern states Wednesday night, after weeks of extreme weather that killed more than two-dozen people and destroyed hundreds of homes.
A tornado in Marshall County, Oklahoma killed one person and damaged at least two businesses.
Robert Chaney, Marshall County Emergency Management Director, said the person’s body was found near J&I Manufacturing, a trailer factory about six miles southwest of Madill where the storm hit the Oklahoma Steel and Wire plant.
A tornado was reported in southwest Texas near the town of Onalaska, damaging mobile homes and other structures. Carrie Miller, a spokeswoman for Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy, said there were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries.
There was a flood-related death in Mansfield, southeast of Fort-Worth, where a man reportedly lost his balance as he tried to retrieve a trash can from the water.
There were no other storm-related injuries or deaths reported as of Wednesday evening but many Mansfield residents had to be rescued from their flooded homes, DeSoto Parish Sheriff Jayson Richardson said.
“There was some pretty extreme flooding here in Mansfield. Water like I’ve not seen in many, many years, if ever,” Richardson said.
Hours later, a tornado hit Rapides Parish in Alexandria, Louisiana, and destroyed homes. There were no deaths reported as of 10:45 p.m. Wednesday.
On Wednesday, “the greatest severe-weather threat extends from parts of central/eastern Oklahoma to north-central/east Texas, to the lower Mississippi Valley,” the Storm Prediction Center said. “Tornadoes, severe hail and damaging gusts are all possible.”
A tornado watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for portions of eastern Texas and western Louisiana.
The storms are forecast to maintain much of their intensity as they shift eastward during Wednesday night and into Thursday, AccuWeather warned. Potentially life-threatening conditions will persist after dark, including some communities that were slammed by violent weather in recent weeks, according to AccuWeather.
“We expect these storms to continue to move across areas of the South which have already experienced multiple severe weather outbreaks within the past two weeks,” AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Edwards said.
Damaging storms will continue in the Southeast on Thursday, the Weather Channel said. During Thursday, the storms are expected to fire up across Alabama, eastern Tennessee, northern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, AccuWeather predicted.
“The storms from Thursday to Thursday evening will pose a similar threat to that of Wednesday afternoon and night with damaging wind gusts, large hail and torrential downpours,” Edwards said. There will still be the potential for a few isolated tornadoes on Thursday as well.
Atlanta is in the area at greatest risk for severe weather on Thursday, as are the Alabama cities of Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile.
Contributing: Associated Press; Emily Enfinger, Shreveport Times; Melissa Gregory, Alexandria Town Talk
Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/22/severe-weather-tornadoes-forecast-batter-south/3004312001/
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