Truck driving through severe weather conditions – Courtesy: Image by David Mark from Pixabay
As storms hit the Lower Mississippi Valley and central Gulf Coast states Sunday night, 43 million people in the southern United States are at danger for severe weather, which could include heavy rain, hail, and damaging winds.
In the lower Mississippi River Valley, which includes Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle, there is a Level 3 of 5 increased danger of severe weather.
In large portions of Mississippi, eastern Arkansas, northeastern Louisiana, and western Tennessee, including Memphis, a tornado watch was issued for 4 million people on Sunday and remained in effect until 2 a.m. ET.
According to the National Weather Service, storms over Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the far western Florida Panhandle were also forecast to bring showers, severe thunderstorms, and an enhanced threat of extremely strong wind gusts of 75 mph or more.
Eight tornadoes were reported among the 220 complaints of severe weather that were made overnight in various sections of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and the Gulf Coast.
According to PowerOutage.us, more than 470,000 customers were without power across the South as of Sunday night, including more than 220,000 in Oklahoma, more than 70,000 in Texas, and another 98,000 in Louisiana.
According to the Public Service Company of Oklahoma, there are over 200,000 customer outages in the area, mostly in and around Tulsa.
The firm wrote on Facebook, “Due to the level of damage and hazards, this will be a multi-day recovery event.” For clients who can withstand power outages, estimated restoration times will be available Monday morning.
The City of Tulsa reported that between midnight and five in the morning, 911 received more than 4,500 calls regarding approximately 250 downed electricity poles and lines. On Sunday, city officials asked people to avoid the highways and, if possible, stay at home.
The Tulsa Police Department reported on Facebook that the Incident Management Team had been activated and that officers were prioritizing storm-related injuries and emergency calls.
“More than 35 City of Tulsa teams are trying to clean the city’s major thoroughfares, and others are assessing the storm’s impact neighborhood by neighborhood. Over the next few days, work will be done in the daylight, the ad stated.
Heatwave hits the south
The Southeast is now dealing with a variety of meteorological challenges, including the potential for severe storms.
The National Weather Service warns that rain and thunderstorms could cause flooding from the middle of the South to the Gulf Coast. Particularly throughout parts of the Florida Panhandle and northern and central Florida, heavy rains could cause localised flash flooding.
A portion of the Gulf Coast is under excessive heat warnings while the South is seeing hail and significant rainfall. Heat alerts are currently in effect for 32 million people in central and southern Texas, Louisiana, and southern Mississippi, and they are expected to last for many days.
Texas is expected to see triple-digit heat, breaking energy records.
Heat index readings may approach 120 degrees in some places as temperatures rise into the triple digits. There is a chance that a few records will be broken or tied because the temperature is 10-15 degrees higher than usual for this time of year.
While some are still cleaning up after storms that left thousands without power, cities all over the south are preparing for the hot weather by opening cooling centers.
As the city prepares for high temperatures, the City of Houston will offer cooling facilities on Sunday and Monday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. CT. As the parish continues to deal with power outages and storm cleanup, more cooling facilities have been erected in Louisiana’s Caddo Parish.
According to a parish release, “Parish officials will continue to monitor the power restoration with SWEPCO and Homeland Security to determine how long centers will be open.”
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Born and raised in South Florida, Krystal is a recent graduate from the University of Miami with professional writing experience at the collegiate and national news outlet levels. She’s a foodie who loves all things travel, the beach, & visiting new places throughout Florida.