Severe storms caused over 900 miles of damage from Kansas to eastern North Carolina, resulting in 13 reports of tornadoes. The storms appeared to impact the country in clusters, with Tennessee, southern Illinois and northern Alabama being the hardest hit by tornadoes. There were also hundreds of hail and damaging wind reports in other nearby states.
Two Tornado Emergencies - the most dire warnings from the National Weather Service - were issued in Maury, Marshall, Rutherford and Williamson counties in Tennessee and Dekalb County in Alabama. This came after two other Tornado Emergencies were issued earlier this week in Oklahoma and Michigan, marking the most Tornado Emergencies in a three-day period since March 31, 2023.
Additionally, 136 Tornado Warnings and 563 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued on Wednesday.
As of Thursday morning, nearly 240,000 power outages were reported across the Southeast, according to PowerOutage.us.
One person was killed in Claiborne County, Tennessee, after a tree fell on their car during a storm. In Gaston County, North Carolina, a similar event happened west of Charlotte during the afternoon when one person was killed and another was injured by a tree that toppled onto a car.
A third person died, and four others were injured in Columbia, Tennessee, in Maury County, after what the National Weather Service described as a large tornado.
South of Nashville, in Rutherford County, a Tornado Emergency was issued around Eagleville for a confirmed tornado.
Meanwhile, in northern Tennessee, a tornado is believed to have struck communities around Clarksville.
Damage was also reported at Russellville Intermediate School in Morristown, Tennessee, as a tornado-warned storm rolled through Hamblen County on Wednesday morning. District school officials said all students were safe, and there were no injuries.
Late Wednesday night, severe weather moved into Alabama, causing damage in the Huntsville and Henagar areas. The town of Henagar was placed under the Tornado Emergency issued for Dekalb County, and there were reports of substantial damage.
Severe storms shift south and east on Thursday
On Thursday, the threat of supercells will be highest from Central Texas to the Ark-La-Tex region during the afternoon and evening. This is where thunderstorms could produce very large hail, potentially up to the size of baseballs. Damaging winds and a few tornadoes are also possible.
A broader severe weather risk stretches from East Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast, where large hail and damaging wind gusts are the main threats, along with the potential for a few tornadoes.
Additionally, more flooding is likely, especially across eastern portions of Texas, where catastrophic flooding has already occurred. Between 2 and 3 inches of additional rain is expected in that region.
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