An outbreak of severe storms was expected to lash parts of Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas on Thursday, after a series of tornadoes swept through parts of the South the day before, according to the National Weather Service.
The storms caused wind damage around the region, and thousands lost power. In Alabama’s Dallas County, crews working to restore damaged power lines found a surreal piece of debris: A row boat, swept up by the force of the storm, had become wrapped high up around a tree.
“That’s a boat y’all,” an Alabama electric company said in a Facebook post. “Please take these storms seriously throughout the afternoon and night.”
Tornado warnings had been in effect across Mississippi and Alabama on Wednesday afternoon, according to Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the service’s Storm Prediction Center.


By early Thursday, those storms had left their mark. Power outages lingered for thousands of customers, especially in Alabama. There were reports of damaged homes and farms in Wayne County, Miss., and wind damage to structures and trees in Sumter County, Ala., on Wednesday.
On Wednesday night, about 38,000 people had lost power across Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, according to PowerOutage.us, which aggregates live power data from utilities across the United States. On Thursday, more than 17,000 customers were without power in Alabama, according to the data.
On Thursday, the storms could continue to produce tornadoes, wind damage and large hail in parts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, the Weather Service said.
Central Tennessee, as well as southern Ohio and Virginia, could also be affected by the storms on Thursday. Mr. Bunting said in an interview on Thursday that a tornado watch was in effect for northeastern Florida through eastern Georgia and much of the Carolinas.
“There is some risk of a tornado this afternoon,” he said. “The watch in effect now is in a small part of that area.”


“Over the next several hours, folks might need to seek shelter,” Mr. Bunting added.
In some parts of southwest Georgia, the center received reports of high winds toppling trees and causing damage to roofs on Thursday.
A line of thunderstorms was coursing through central Georgia and moving east, with winds up to 50 m.p.h. that could be higher in the early afternoon, Mr. Bunting said.
“We think the storms will intensify as we get later in the day,” he said.
The warning of a second day of powerful storms came after the Weather Service had issued a “particularly dangerous situation” tornado watch for parts of Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi on Wednesday until 7 p.m.
Mr. Bunting said on Thursday that the center had received preliminary reports of 25 tornadoes from that day, but some of those reports could have been based on sightings of the same tornado.
Most of the reports were concentrated in central and southern Alabama, while some were in western Mississippi, northern Louisiana and southwest Missouri.
More than 2.7 million people had been at high risk from the storms on Wednesday, mostly in Mississippi and Alabama, it said, with an additional 5.6 million people at moderate risk. Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama had issued a state of emergency on Tuesday ahead of the storms to “ensure we’re ready to act in any way needed.”
On Thursday, the governor said a lot of the funnel clouds did not extend to the ground.
“After an exhausting day and night of intense weather, the storm system has finally moved out,” she said on Twitter. “Overall, we have a lot to be grateful for as it could have been much worse.”


A winter storm hit Jackson in February, leaving more than 70 percent of the city’s water customers under a notice to boil water for weeks. The notice was lifted last week for well-water customers and on Wednesday for surface-water customers. The rash of storms this week could again threaten the city’s water systems.
A tornado watch that had been issued for parts of Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas expired on Wednesday night, but some parts of those states would see rain on Thursday and in northern Arkansas, even a dusting of snow.
People in areas where tornado warnings are issued should shelter on the lowest floor of their homes and cover themselves with a mattress or pillow, as well as a helmet if one is available, to decrease the risk of injury, Mr. Bunting said.
Michael Levenson contributed reporting.

Source: New York Times

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