Severe storms that left three people dead in Mississippi and roofs torn off buildings in a small Oklahoma town have swept across the United States, threatening more communities in the central and eastern parts of the country.
At the same time, meteorologists warned of an approaching Pacific storm that will bring heavy rain and snow to mountainous areas of California and other parts of the West from Wednesday through Friday.
Tornado warnings were issued for the Carolinas, Florida and Virginia on Wednesday.
High winds disrupted Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans on Tuesday, forcing two major parades to be postponed and shortened in order to complete them before the weather worsened.
The Mississippi State Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that three deaths were attributed to severe weather conditions.
WAPT-TV reported that in Madison County, one person was killed by a fallen power line and another was killed by a tree falling on his car. A woman in Clark County was killed when a tree branch fell on her near her home, according to WLBT-TV.
At least seven confirmed tornadoes were reported Tuesday in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, according to preliminary weather service data. That number could rise Wednesday, with severe storms likely to spread from Florida to New York state, said Bill Bunting, deputy director of the Storm Prediction Center.
A snowstorm hit eastern Nebraska overnight Wednesday into Thursday, bringing about four inches of snow and winds up to 65 mph, limiting visibility and closing many snow-covered roads, including a section of Interstate 80.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area, southern Minnesota and much of Iowa are under the impact of a powerful winter storm.
The storm brought the heaviest snow of the season to Minneapolis, where the National Weather Service reported 7.4 inches at the airport and snow was still falling Wednesday morning. That was well above the 5.5 inches that fell at the airport on Dec. 19.
Other areas of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area were hit even harder, with Stillwater and Woodbury receiving 11 inches of rain, and some places receiving as much as 12 to 13 inches.
“I wouldn't say it's unheard of or unusual,
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
