Aerial footage shows devastation left by tornadoes in Texas 1:03
Baton Rouge, Louisiana (CNN) —
A storm system that brought 25 tornadoes to Texas on Monday, including two that may have damaged as many as 1,000 homes, spawned more tornadoes Tuesday as it moved east.
As of 7 pm Tuesday, 18 more tornadoes were reported, all in Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center.
Tornado watches were in effect for eastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, much of Alabama and a portion of northeast Florida.
“The tornado threat will continue as a storm line moves east into Alabama during the afternoon hours.
High winds and hail are also possible,” tweeted the Storm Prediction Center.
Several tornado warnings have been issued in Alabama, meaning a tornado has been detected or indicated on radar.
advertising
Nighttime tornadoes are more than twice as likely to be deadly as daytime tornadoes, the NWS said.
They are “particularly dangerous not only because sleepers can be caught off guard, but because an approaching tornado can be cloaked in darkness, making it impossible for someone who is awake to see it,” said the meteorologist. CNN Derek Van Dam.
A day earlier, two tornadoes in Williamson County, Texas, opened a damage path more than 20 miles long, according to the top county executive.
"We think there are somewhere in the neighborhood 1,000 houses that have been damaged or completely destroyed," County Judge Bill Gravell said at a news conference.
Arturo Ortega and his son Kaysen survey damage to a shopping center Monday after a tornado hit Round Rock, Texas.
Williamson County is just north of Austin, the state capital.
"I think we'll be surprised at how many houses have been destroyed," said state Rep. Terry Wilson.
Only minor injuries were reported in Round Rock, Police Chief Allen Banks said.
In Grayson County, north of Dallas, a 73-year-old woman died after her home was destroyed by Monday's storm, along with dozens of other homes in the state, local officials said.
There was also a tornado in Marshall, Oklahoma.
It's important for people not to forget about dangers other than tornadoes, including straight-line winds, large hail and flooding, said meteorologist Hannah Lisney of the National Weather Service office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Powerful storms could bring damaging winds, hail and possible tornadoes to the southeastern US.
"Everything is on the table," he said.
Aside from Tuesday's tornado watch, more than six million people from Louisiana to Arkansas to Tennessee were under a flood watch or warning.
The system will weaken as it continues to move east on Wednesday, putting a slight risk of severe weather in areas like Atlanta and Charlotte, Durham, and Raleigh, North Carolina.
Students weather the storm at school
As of Tuesday night, some 52,000 customers were without power in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana, nearly 32,000 of them in Texas, according to PowerOutage.us.
In Jack County, northwest of the Fort Worth area, 60 to 80 homes were destroyed, local officials said.
The National Weather Service determined the tornado to be an EF-3, with winds between 140 and 150 mph.
Multiple homes were heavily damaged when severe storms hit Jacksboro, Texas, on Monday.
"Many of our homes have been totally demolished and families have been evicted from their places of residence," Jack County Judge Keith Umphress told reporters.
A shelter has been set up for those who lost their homes, officials said.
It was a miracle that more people were not injured, especially at Jacksboro Elementary School, which was home to a large number of students when a storm severely damaged the gym, said Jacksboro Fire Chief Jeremy Jennings.
A severe storm causes "catastrophic damage" in two Texas schools
The Jacksboro High School gymnasium was also heavily damaged and the facility will be unusable "for some time," Jennings said.
“We are very blessed to have facilities that were designed to withstand a storm, the storm damage that we received,” Jacksboro Independent School District Superintendent Brad Burnett told CNN affiliate WFAA.
Elementary students were very excited when they came out of the school and saw the storm damage, Burnett said.
Nine people in Jack County were hospitalized with minor injuries, said county Rural Fire Chief Jason Jennings.
The Jacksboro fire chief had never encountered such destruction in his community, he said.
"I've been part of the emergency services for 24 years here, I've never seen anything that didn't come close to this magnitude here," said Jeremy Jennings.
"Nothing like this, not even anywhere else in this county."
An EF-2 tornado that passed through Houston County damaged 20 to 25 homes, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.
The governor said about 10 people were injured, one seriously.
A reported tornado in Texas injured five people early Tuesday, part of a storm that brought widespread destruction Monday and brought more severe weather, including tornadoes, across much of the Southeast.
The five injured people were in a trailer in Beasley as the storm moved through the area, according to Jacqueline Preston of the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.
Further south, in the Austin area, state agencies including the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas Department of Public Safety were responding to storm damage in Williamson and Bastrop counties, Abbott said. .
A reported tornado moved through Round Rock in Williamson County around 6 p.m. Monday, authorities said.
An emergency declaration was already in effect in Williamson County due to the recent fires and will apply to storm damage as well, Abbott said.
“As we speak right now, I want everyone across the state who is going through this to know that the state of Texas will be with you every step of the way,” the governor said.
CNN's Derek Van Dam reported from Baton Rouge. Kelly McCleary, Andy Rose, Claudia Dominguez, Rebekah Riess, Monica Garrett, Dave Hennen, Taylor Romine, Joe Sutton, Susannah Cullinane, and Theresa Waldrop contributed to this report.
MississippiTexas Tornadoes USA
