Tornadoes tore through Louisiana on Monday, killing at least one person and threatening huge swaths of Mississippi, western Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, authorities said.
About 11 million people were affected by the wild storms during the day and through the night, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center.
The rash of twisters are coming from a monster, 2,000-mile-long storm system that stretches from Colorado to New England.
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Some points of the Rocky Mountains have recorded 40 inches of snow on Monday and transportation officials in the Northeast are bracing for a travel nightmare, where rain and snow are forecast to fall on airports and roads on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Temperatures in tornado-afflicted regions are 10 to 20 degrees above average for this time of year, meteorologists said. That heat, combined with the system’s high winds, are fueling severe storms through the night, despite losing daytime sunshine that usually boosts tornadoes.
In Vernon Parish Louisiana, which is about 240 miles northwest of New Orleans and 120 miles south of Shreveport, at least one person has been killed by the extreme weather, according to sheriff’s deputies and the state’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
“We’ve got damage at lots of places. We’ve got a church where the fellowship hall is torn all to pieces,” said Vernon Parish Chief Deputy Calvin Turner said.
“Some homes are hit. Right now we’re having trouble just getting to places because of trees that are down.”
Emergency planners throughout the Deep South feared the threat of nocturnal tornadoes hitting overnight.
The nighttime twisters are more than twice as deadly as daytime tornadoes because it’s so much harder to see them coming and potential victims are asleep — and not watching TV, listening to the radio or online to receive evacuation warnings.
“Chance for strong storms starting this evening,” according to a statement by NOLA Ready, the city of New Orleans’ emergency preparedness operation. “Stay weather aware and have a way to receive emergency alerts.”
Associated Press contributed.
