The nation’s Southeast could see severe weather Wednesday, including heavy rain and tornadoes – even as the South copes with the aftermath of storms that left at least two dead and swaths of home and tree damage earlier this week.
More than 42 million people are under some level of threat for severe storms Wednesday across much of the Southeast and parts of the southern Appalachians, with damaging winds, several tornadoes and large hail possible, the Storm Prediction Center said.
The day’s highest threat – a Level 3 of 5 – exists for about 12.6 million of those people, in parts of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and small portions of the Carolinas. The threat covers the Atlanta area and the Alabama cities of Birmingham and Montgomery, according to the prediction center.
Wednesday’s storms are expected to be concentrated in two areas and time frames:
• Severe storms by early afternoon across Alabama and south Georgia, potentially over the same areas hit Tuesday.
• Storms along an advancing cold front that will swing through the Southeast during the afternoon and night.
Wednesday’s greatest tornado potential is across southern Georgia, while damaging wind gusts are likely farther north, across northern Alabama and Georgia into Tennessee.
A tornado watch is in effect until 11 p.m. ET Wednesday for portions of eastern and southeastern Georgia and western South Carolina, including the cities of Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia.
A tornado watch also is in effect until 10 p.m. ET for other portions of Georgia, including the southern part of the Atlanta area and cities including Columbus, Albany and Macon.
A third watch is in effect for about 2.5 million people in parts of northeast Alabama, northwest Georgia, Tennessee and far southwest North Carolina until 10 p.m. ET. This includes Albertville and Scottsboro in Alabama; Dalton and Calhoun in Georgia; and Chattanooga and Knoxville in Tennessee.
As well as tornadoes, hail up to 2 inches and wind gusts up to 70 mph are also possible, according to the Storm Prediction Center.
A flood watch also is in effect for parts of Georgia until Thursday morning, because heavy rain could flood already-high rivers and creeks and lead to flash flooding, the National Weather Service said.
2 killed Tuesday as storms ripped the South
The severe weather comes after parts of the South dealt with a series of storms that killed at least two people.
Dozens of tornado reports were made Monday and Tuesday from Texas into the Southeast, including at least 38 Tuesday in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, according to the weather service.
Suspected and confirmed twisters, as well as strong winds, downed trees and power lines across portions of these areas, as well as damaging homes and businesses across several states.
A man in East Texas was killed early Tuesday when a tree fell on an RV in the community of Whitehouse, the Smith County emergency management coordinator said.
Another person died in Bryan County, Georgia, as severe weather swept through the area, local officials said. The county, which is near Savannah, declared a state of emergency due to the impacts of a tornado, officials said.
Tornado debris trapped several people in their homes in Bryan County, emergency officials said.
Mary Edwards was driving on Interstate 16 in Georgia not far from Savannah when she saw a tornado ahead.
The twister appeared just minutes after Edwards received an alert on her phone for a tornado warning.
“To see it right before you, it’s humbling. It’s exciting, it’s majestic, and you really get that sense of mortality. You surrender,” she said.
Suspected tornadoes were reported in South Carolina’s Allendale County, where four homes were destroyed, five others sustained major damage and at least three people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, the state emergency management division said.
In middle Georgia’s Houston County, Randell Petrie, his wife and dog hid in their home for about two minutes as a severe storm hit his neighborhood: “I hear the sound of a train and told my wife to get in the closet,” he said.
When the rain let up about 30 minutes later, he went outside and saw homes damaged from fallen trees, including at least one tree that crushed a roof and came to rest inside the building, he said. Some trees were uprooted; others were snapped, pictures from Petrie showed.
Correction: An earlier version of this story overstated the number of people under the day’s most severe weather threat level.
CNN’s Aya Elamroussi, Sharif Paget, Sara Smart, Dave Alsup and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.
Source: www.cnn.com