Over 20 million people from the eastern Gulf Coast to the Carolinas are at risk of extreme weather as a storm system centered on the South pushed its way east Sunday.
Multiple tornadoes and damaging storms have hit the South over the last few days, killing two people — one in Texas and the other in Mississippi. As of Saturday afternoon, five preliminary tornadoes were reported in Louisiana and Texas, leaving structural damage in their wake.
The storm system shifted east Sunday, bringing the threat of heavy rain, damaging winds, hail and severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes from Florida to southern Virginia. Jacksonville, Charlotte, Raleigh and Atlanta are among the cities at risk of more tornadoes, damaging wind gusts and large hail.
A tornado watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for parts of the Carolinas and Georgia until 1 p.m. ET. Multiple tornado warnings have been issued in southwestern North Carolina Sunday morning, including in Ellerbe and Wadesboro until 11 a.m. ET.
A severe thunderstorm watch was also issued for parts of central North Carolina and eastern South Carolina, including coastal waters, until 5 p.m. ET Sunday, per the weather service’s storm prediction center.
“A fast-moving line of showers and occasional thunderstorms will produce gusty winds and occasional damaging gusts through the early afternoon,” the storm prediction center said in a Sunday morning advisory. “An isolated tornado or two is also possible.”
Over 170,000 utility customers across the South are without power as of Sunday at 11:30 a.m., including more than 60,000 in Mississippi, 35,800 in North Carolina, 32,800 in Georgia, 22,700 in Alabama and 18,200 in South Carolina, according to Poweroutage.US.
More than 4,200 flights within, into or out of the U.S. have been delayed, and 300 were canceled as of Sunday morning, according to FlightAware.com. The airports most affected are Charlotte Douglas International Airport, with 621 flights delayed and 32 canceled; George Bush Intercontinental Airport, with 155 delayed and 93 canceled; and Miami International Airport, with 217 delayed and 26 canceled.
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