Southerners are cleaning up from tornadoes that swept the region
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Cleanup was underway Monday after a strong storm system spawned hail, rain, high winds and tornadoes across the southern U.S. over the weekend, killing at least four people. As of Monday afternoon, over 30 tornadoes had been confirmed as crews worked through about 50 reports of tornado damage spanning from Texas to South Carolina, said Mark Wiley, an emergency response specialist with the National Weather Service’s Southern Region Headquarters.
The storms came over a busy holiday travel weekend, causing some treacherous road conditions along with delays or cancellations at some of the busiest U.S. airports. The storms first hit Saturday around the Houston area, where the National Weather Service by Monday had confirmed six tornadoes. Two of the twisters were rated EF3, with peak winds of about 140 mph, including one that hit Montgomery County in the Porter and New Caney areas.
“Some of the damage was pretty substantial, some cases leveling homes, some producing quite a bit of roof damage,” said Brian Kyle, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Houston. Around 50 homes in Montgomery County sustained major damage and 30 were destroyed, county official Jason Smith said. A couple hundred more homes sustained minor or cosmetic damage, he said.
Smith said crews, which have been working since the weekend, were continuing to pick up debris Monday. Officials in Mississippi said two people were killed in storms there, including an 18-year-old who died after a tree fell on her home Saturday night in Natchez in Adams County. In Texas, a 48-year-old woman died in the Liverpool area south of Houston, said Madison Polston of the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office. She said the woman was found about 100 feet (30 meters) from her home.
