By JAY REEVES and JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press
Strong storms moving across the Deep South killed at least one person Monday and left a trail of smashed buildings, splintered trees and downed power lines the week before Christmas.
Forecasters issued multiple tornado warnings and some cities opened shelters as a cold front collided with warmer air over northern Gulf Coast states. The National Weather Service said the threat could last overnight into Tuesday.
One person died when an apparent tornado struck a small residential area in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, but details were not immediately available, said Chief Deputy Calvin Turner.
Officials fear others could be hurt in the area since crews were still trying to reach hard-hit areas where downed trees and power lines blocked roads, he said.
“We’ve got damage at lots of places. We’ve got a church where the fellowship hall is torn all to pieces. Some homes are hit. Right now we’re having trouble just getting to places because of trees that are down,” Turner said.
In nearby Alexandria, Louisiana, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans, a sheriff’s official said the storm left roads impassable, peeled the roof off of a church and destroyed a car lot.
“As of right now we’ve had people trapped. I don’t have any reported injuries,” said Capt. Phillip Jordan of the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office. Nearly 6,000 area homes and businesses were without power, according to the Louisiana utility Cleco.
Meteorologist Donald Jones of the National Weather Service office in Lake Charles said it appeared the twister that hit in Alexandria also struck the town of DeRidder on a path that was an “absolutely ridiculous” at 63 miles (101 kilometers) long.
“I don’t know what our records for the longest total in this area is, but that’s got to be pretty damn close to it,” he said.
The Storm Prediction Center reported two people suffered minor injuries from flying debris after storms moved into Mississippi, and multiple trees fell atop homes and vehicles in Edwards, east of Vicksburg. Schools were opened as shelters as forecasters began issuing tornado warnings in north Alabama.
Entergy Mississippi reported more than 2,000 power outages, concentrated mostly west of the state capital of Jackson in an area where a tornado was spotted on the ground.
There were no immediate reports of injuries there, but the weather service said the threat of severe weather would continue into the night as a cold front mixed with warmer air.
About 1 million people live in an area of northeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi that had a moderate chance of dangerous weather, forecasters said. Tornado watches extended from the Gulf Coast as far north as southern Tennessee.
Forecasters said a lesser threat extended into Alabama, western Georgia, the western Florida Panhandle and Tennessee as storms moved eastward.
School systems in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi dismissed students early and canceled afternoon events and activities as a precaution because of the weather threat.
Forecasters said tornadoes, hail and winds blowing at 70 mph (115 kph) posed the greatest threat as a cold front moved across the region in an easterly direction. Storms could last until early Tuesday in the eastern areas, forecasters said.
Tornadoes in December aren’t unusual.
Monday was the 19th anniversary of a Southeastern tornado outbreak that produced a twister that killed 11 people in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Storms on Dec. 1, 2018, spawned more than two dozen tornadoes in the Midwest.