At least 7 people are dead in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, in the wake of severe storms and tornadoes that tore through the Southeast on Thursday.
The severe weather destroyed buildings and left thousands without power as it blew through the region.
More than 150,000 businesses and homes lost electricity as severe weather snapped utility lines, toppled trees, and damaged buildings.
Nearly a dozen tornadoes have been reported.
In Georgia, one of the suspected tornadoes swept through Adel in Cook County. It tore away roofs and flipped at least one car and a small plane.
According to Cook County’s emergency management director, Johnny West, Adel and the rest of the county suffered “heavy damage.” The storm snapped trees in half, and metal roofing material landed over still-standing utility lines.
Another suspected tornado touched down Thursday evening north of Tallahassee, Florida near Interstate 10.
In Alabama, the frightening winds peeled roofing material off a church and sent an awning into a car at a gas station.
A firefighter and an emergency medical worker in Anniston, Alabama hurt themselves trying to rescue a trapped person. A tree fell during a storm and landed on the person’s house. Part of that tree fell on top of them. The Anniston EMS said that the workers and the resident were all taken to a hospital. Luckily, none of the injuries were life-threatening.
However, an apparent tornado killed three people in the southeast Texas town of Onalaska. 20 to 30 more were injured. The deadly weather destroyed 46 homes and damaged another 245 in the area, according to Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy.
Nine more tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma.
Just outside of Madill, Oklahoma, one of the tornadoes hit as workers were leaving for the day from J&I Manufacturing. They later found the body of one worker about a quarter of a mile away.
Madill saw a second death when a tornado blew a vehicle off of a highway. Police found the driver in the median. They found his vehicle in a nearby field, according to a report from Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Louisiana also saw two tragic deaths as storms raged and water poured in.
“There was some pretty extreme flooding here in Mansfield. Water like I’ve not seen in many, many years, if ever,” DeSoto Parish Sheriff Jayson Richardson said. “Basically, the water rose really fast and we had to rescue some people out of homes. I think we had about 20 or so homes that people were flooded in.”
Unfortunately, one Louisiana man died after he lost footing and floodwaters swept him away.
News outlets reported another resident died during a storm in Lecompte, Louisiana. They have not determined the exact cause.
