Another tornado has been confirmed Tuesday afternoon in Mississippi, as a tornado warning was issued for parts of Rankin, Hinds and Madison counties, according to reporter Christana Kay.
A tornado warning also was issued for Jackson, Mississippi, about 3:50 p.m. Tuesday.
At least five people have died due to the severe weather and tornadoes in the South, according multiple reports.
Two people died in Mississippi after tornadoes ravaged the state, and a woman died Tuesday morning in Tennessee after a tree fell on her.
A tornado warning Monday in Atlanta forced thousands to seek shelter, and one man was killed when a falling tree brought power lines onto his vehicle in Douglasville, Georgia, west of Atlanta, Douglas County spokesman Rick Martin said. And in Middle Georgia, 55-year-old Carla Harris was killed after a tree fell onto her Bonaire home, Houston County emergency officials said.
With warnings about possible tornadoes stretching from Louisiana eastward, dozens of school systems in Mississippi and Alabama dismissed students early so buses and cars would not have to be on the road during potentially violent weather. Torrential rains flooded streets around metro Birmingham, Alabama, on Tuesday.
At least 13,000 were without power Tuesday afternoon after a storm in Virginia, according to reporter Brent Watts.
Another tornado was on the ground Tuesday morning in Mississippi, according to multiple reports.
A possible tornado caused damage near Oakton, Kentucky, according to reporter Amber Smith.
Three semi-trucks were blown off Interstate 35 East and debris was strewn across lanes as a possible tornado touched down near Waxahachie, Texas, according to FOX4.
Search-and-rescue operations are underway after a tornado in Ellis County, Texas, according to reporter Chris Grisby.
At least eight people were injured and 25 to 30 businesses and buildings were damaged in Ellis County, according to KRLD.
Multiple vehicles and buildings were damaged by heavy wind in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, according to the National Weather Service in Little Rock.
More than 44,000 customers are without power across Arkansas, according to KARK 4 News.
A tornado in White County, Tennessee, damaged several structures, including electric poles, according to the NWS in Nashville.
Parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee, as well as corners of Arkansas and Georgia are at enhanced risk for the worst weather, according to the national Storm Prediction Center. That zone is home to more than 11 million people and includes the cities of Nashville, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Jackson, Mississippi, forecasters said.
“We’ll see all three threats as far as hail, wind and tornadoes on Tuesday,” said Mike Edmonston, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Mississippi.
The weather could include wind gusts of up to 70 mph and hail to the size of golf balls, forecasters said, noting that “tornadoes are likely Tuesday into Tuesday evening” in parts of Mississippi.
The risk follows heavy weather that moved across the South on Sunday and Monday, damaging homes and uprooting trees from Mississippi to West Virginia.
The weather first turned rough in Mississippi on Sunday, where just south of Yazoo City, Vickie Savell was left with only scraps of the brand-new mobile home where she and her husband had moved in just eight days ago. It had been lifted off its foundation and moved about 25 feet. It was completely destroyed.
“Oh, my God, my first new house in 40 years and it’s gone,” she said Monday, amid tree tops strewn about the neighborhood and the roar of chainsaws as people worked to clear roads.
Savell had been away from home, attending church, but her husband Nathan had been driving home and hunkered down in the front of his truck as the home nearby was destroyed. From there, he watched his new home blow past him, he said.
Nearby, Garry McGinty recalled being at home listening to birds chirping — then dead silence. He looked outside and saw a dark, ominous cloud and took shelter in a hallway, he said. He survived, but trees slammed into his carport, two vehicles and the side of his house.
The storms hit the northeast Mississippi city of Tupelo late Sunday, damaging homes and businesses.
There were multiple reports of damage to homes on Elvis Presley Drive, just down the street from the home where the famed singer was born. Presley was born in a two-room house in the Tupelo neighborhood, but there was no indication that the historic home sustained damage. It’s now a museum.
Just down the street, a tornado tore the roof off the home of Terrille and Chaquilla Pulliam, they told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. About 10 family members took shelter inside the house, and "we got everybody inside in time," Terrille Pulliam said.
Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan said Calhoun City also “was hit hard.”
"Light poles have been snapped off. Trees in a few homes. Trees on vehicles. Damage to several businesses. Fortunately we have had no reports at this time of injuries," Pollan posted on Facebook.
“I don’t even recognize my neighborhood anymore,” Calhoun City resident Martha Edmond told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal after a tree poked a hole in her roof, causing heavy water damage. Two locations of a metal fabrication company were heavily damaged.
In Mississippi, forecasters confirmed 12 tornadoes Sunday evening and night, including the Yazoo City twister, which stretched for 30 miles, and another tornado that moved through suburbs of Byram and Terry south of Jackson that produced a damage track 1,000 yards wide.
In South Carolina, at least one tornado was reported Monday afternoon in Abbeville County. The tornado appeared to be on the ground for several miles, according to warnings from the National Weather Service. No injuries were immediately reported. In Greenwood, downed trees and power lines were reported, while a vehicle was blown over and a storage unit building was heavily damaged. Multiple locations reported golf ball-sized hail.
In the southern Kentucky town of Tompkinsville, a Monday morning storm later confirmed as a tornado damaged several homes and knocked down trees and power lines, Fire Chief Kevin Jones said. No injuries were reported, he said.
In West Virginia, Jefferson County communications supervisor James Hayden said one person was injured when a possible tornado touched down at a lumber company Monday evening. The injury was minor, and the person was treated at the scene, he said. An exterior lumber shed collapsed, Hayden said.
Rich Barak of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.
