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Two people have been killed by falling trees, and tens of thousands have been left without power as two severe storms continue to sweep through the southern states.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said one person was killed in Lafayette County after a tree fell on a vehicle, and several tornado warnings were issued across northern Mississippi on Saturday.
Another person was killed in Georgia on Saturday night, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said. A spokesperson for the Georgia Emergency Management confirmed that the fatality occurred in Banks County after a tree fell on a vehicle.
A tornado watch was issued for parts of the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia on Sunday, and two days prior, the NWS confirmed that an EF-1 tornado damaged multiple homes and injured one person in the city of Van Buren in western Arkansas.
“Join us in praying for the loved ones of a Georgian tragically lost tonight due to the severe storms,” Kemp wrote on X Sunday.
“Severe thunderstorms with destructive winds, very large hail, a couple tornadoes, and excessive rainfall will move across southern Oklahoma and northern Texas overnight while severe thunderstorms taper off in the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas,” the NWS said late Sunday.
“On Monday, severe thunderstorms will bring scattered damaging winds, a couple of tornadoes, and isolated large hail across the Southeast U.S. into the Upper Ohio Valley. Excessive rainfall may bring flooding to the northern Gulf Coast and Northeast U.S,” the NWS continued.
Residents in Fort Worth, Texas, caught videos of the mighty storms over the weekend, and NWS Houston has since issued a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for much of Southeast Texas through 7 a.m. Monday morning.
Commuters in Houston are likely to be impacted by the storms “around rush hour” as the storms “have the potential to produce winds in excess of 60 mph”, the NWS said on X.
As of Monday, 86,530 people across Texas were without power, according to poweroutage.us. At present, no coastal watches or warnings have been issued.
Also on Monday, the National Weather Service issued warnings for Storm Barbara, which they said was “near hurricane strength” and “moving toward the west-northwest” – roughly 185 miles southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, with near 70 mph winds and strong gusts.
The second powerful weather warning came for Storm Cosme, located 630 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico, and was “strengthening slightly well off the coast of Mexico” Monday.
Barbara is expected to bring around two to four inches of rain to coastal patches of the Mexican states Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco through Monday, the NWS said.
Officials warned that the rainfall may lead to localized areas of flooding and mudslides. Swells attributed to Barbara could impact the coast of southwestern Mexico over the next few days, and officials warned that they are “likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.” Barbara is expected to begin tailing off on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Cosme’s maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph with strong gusts. The storm is expected to reach hurricane strength later Monday. The storm system should then begin to weaken late Tuesday through Wednesday, the NWS added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
