“We know that out of that 31, we had at least 7 in critical condition”.
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In neighboring Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency, in anticipation of severe weather.
The storm system posed a continuing tornado threat as it swept east through the night across MS and into Alabama, said Mike Efferson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in New Orleans. Ronald Myers, who lives across the street, believes it was a tornado.
Local media reported that three buildings in an apartment complex had been badly damaged and thousands of people in the region were without power.
Residents reported damage to homes from tornadoes and golf ball-sized hail on the Mississippi Gulf Coast as the system barreled across the U.S. South, Efferson said.
Rick Scott visited an area of Pensacola damaged by rough weather Tuesday night that damaged more than 70 homes and 24 apartments, leaving three people with minor injuries.
Static homes were destroyed and roofs ripped from buildings.
The Assumption Parish Sheriff’s Office reported severe damage to businesses in Paincourtville and damage to a home in Belle River.
Forecaster Robert Ricks says one of the paths takes a possible tornado over the western part of LaPlace, where as many as 200 homes were damaged late Tuesday afternoon.
A man, who was in a house near the RV park in the town of Convent in southern Louisiana, told WVUE, a CNN affiliate, that he heard a “big rumbling sound and the whole entire house started shaking” when he was sleeping. The same storm was later expected to produce damaging winds across the the Mid-Atlantic, he said. Three people were killed, dozens were injured and severe damage was reported from a line of tornado-spawning storms pushing through the Deep South. The northern part of Georgia was also under a wind advisory. Severe weather is expected between 3 and 10 p.m.
Flash flood warnings were in effect for Alabama and Georgia through Wednesday afternoon.
Unlike in many parts of the country there is no “tornado season” here as the moisture and heat allow for storms to form during any month.
National Weather Service forecasters are urging people in the central area of North Carolina to brace for possible severe weather later in the week.
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Schools in the metro New Orleans area scrambled to notify parents of early dismissals, with most closing between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Many schools and colleges closed in the Hattiesburg, Miss., area, and high school sporting events were postponed due to the predicted severe weather.
