A Tornado Watch is in effect across parts of Alabama, Florida and Georgia through 7 a.m. EDT on Thursday, NWS Atlanta tweeted Thursday.
The Storm Prediction Center of the NWS said around three million residents from southeastern Arkansas and northeastern Louisiana to Mississippi and Alabama were at high risk for large tornadoes that remain on the ground for miles as well as winds of up to 80 miles per hour and destructive hail.
“Scattered severe thunderstorms are expected today from portions of eastern Georgia, through the Carolinas into extreme southeast Virginia. All severe hazards are possible. Other isolated severe storms are possible from southern Ohio into the central Appalachians,” the center said early Thursday morning.
Hazards include “several tornadoes, a few intense, scattered damaging winds [and] isolated large hail,” it added.
At least 129 reports of severe weather were received by the Storm Prediction Center, as of Wednesday night, including 21 tornadoes. Some of the twisters left homes and businesses severely damaged in Alabama and Mississippi.
More than 30,000 power cuts were reported in some areas impacted by severe weather. They include over 18,000 outages in Alabama and over 14,000 across Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, according to PowerOutage.US, at the time of reporting.
Classes were canceled at dozens of school systems in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, with many switching to online learning or dismissing students early.
Several videos and images capturing scenes of the tornadoes have been shared on Twitter.
“Incredible visuals are coming in from #Mississippi today as storms rip across the south,” @WeatherNation tweeted Wednesday, sharing video footage of a tornado in Strengthford, Mississippi.
User @brianemfinger shared drone footage of a tornado near Silas, Alabama. The video has had over 185,000 views since it was first shared on Wednesday.
Meteorologist Brantly Keieke tweeted: “WOW! Tornado captured on camera this afternoon in Laurel, Mississippi. Debris can be seen circulating around vortex. Video from Shalea Jones.”
Drone footage shared by meteorologist Reed Timmer also showed more dramatic tornado scenes in Alabama. “Dominator drone footage of two #tornado warned supercells in Alabama (1) Gilbertown supercell and Thomasville AL supercell 1. Caught the Silas wedge in the jungle north of Hwy 84. Hearing reports of damage throughout MS/AL. Hope everyone is okay. Stay tuned to @RadarOmega_WX app,” Timmer tweeted Thursday.
