Punishing storms and tornadoes swept across the American South overnight, leaving two people dead in Alabama, an emergency official said, and dropping hail as large as two inches in parts of the region.
Officials confirmed that at least four tornadoes had formed on Tuesday as part of the extensive storm system that stretched from Louisiana through Alabama. A mother and her child were killed and her husband injured in Montgomery County, Ala., when a tree fell on their home, said Christina Thornton, the county’s emergency management director.
“That area and community is devastated, with lines down, trees down and roadways blocked,” Ms. Thornton said. Search-and-rescue operations had finished, she added, so no further deaths or injuries were expected.
Forecasters had warned that a nasty storm system was expected to sweep across the South late Tuesday, and predicted that it would spawn tornadoes. Alabama appeared to have borne the brunt, with heavy rains and significant structural damage reported by Montgomery County officials, including trees on homes, blocked roads and downed power lines.
Some 20,000 customers in the state were without power as of late Wednesday morning, according to poweroutage.us, a website that aggregates data from energy providers. More than 30 homes were damaged in Hale County, according to a report by an ABC affiliate.
The storms were expected to subside on Wednesday, but, as of 10 a.m., about 400,000 people in Louisiana and Florida were still under tornado watches, indicating that additional tornadoes were possible, ” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>according to the National Weather Service. Some schools in Alabama announced two-hour delays.
The storm system was expected to move into the Northeast on Wednesday afternoon, bringing rain, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the Weather Service.
The South was expected to be spared further significant damage as a cold front moved in, said Lance Perrilloux, a Weather Service meteorologist in Jackson, Miss.
Tornadoes in the South are not unheard-of this time of year. November averages 54 tornado reports across the United States, with the most historically reported in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida during the month.
The fall is viewed as a sort of “secondary time for severe weather,” said Matt Hemingway, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Shreveport, La.
Of the tornadoes on Tuesday night, two were in Mississippi: one in Lowndes County, in the eastern part of the state, and the other near Paulding, about 90 miles east of Jackson. Others were in Louisiana and Alabama.
The strength of the tornadoes in Mississippi was unclear, but Mr. Perrilloux said they had knocked down power lines and trees. Hail between 1.5 and 2 inches belted the small town of Vaiden, in the central part of the state, Mr. Perrilloux said.
The Louisiana tornado hit Caldwell Parish, and meteorologists planned to measure its strength later in the week. Freddy Mercer, a spokesman with the Caldwell Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said by phone that one house there had been destroyed, and that a man inside it had bruised his ribs. There were no other reports of injuries.
“We’ve seen much, much worse than this storm,” Mr. Mercer said.
In Alabama, a tornado was confirmed in Eutaw, about 86 miles southwest of Birmingham, where officials reported damage to apartment buildings and other structures, according to Gerald Satterwhite, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Birmingham.
Tornadoes form when the right mix of temperature, moisture and wind occur inside large rotating thunderstorms. Scientists remain unsure about the role that climate change may play in the intensity and frequency of tornadoes.
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