The severe storms that killed at least 18 people and destroyed hundreds of structures in the south yesterday are moving north today as over 150 million people will be under some type of weather advisory, watch, or warning.
Coronavirus may be one of the foremost causes of depression at the moment, but today’s weather news is also grim. Destructive weather wreaked destruction across the south yesterday leaving at least 18 people dead, hundreds of structures demolished, and over a million people without power this morning.
Damage pictures just coming in from the Seminary area. #mswx pic.twitter.com/JHEbedsqVy
— David Hartman (@DHartman_WAPT) April 12, 2020
The same line of strong storms that caused death and destruction in the south was moving north on Monday. Many areas could see wind gusts upwards of 50 mph and some could see winds in excess of 70 mph.
Severe weather warnings, as well as tornado watches, are in effect for much of the east coast today extending from Florida to New York.
States and areas under warnings by the National Weather Service (NWS) today include northern Florida, eastern Georgia, eastern South Carolina, eastern North Carolina, eastern Virginia, eastern West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, eastern Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.
The risks of severe weather today includes: heavy rain, flash flooding, damaging winds, large hail, and possible tornadoes.
Strong storms passed across several southern states yesterday carving a destructive and deadly path. Dozens of people have been hospitalized and at least 18 people died as a result of the deadly weather.
The storms first brought destructive weather to Texas on Saturday and moved east on Sunday. The states hit the hardest by the destructive storms on Easter Sunday were Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.
Intense tornado damage from Bassfield, Ms. #MsWx #Tornado #Damage #Drone pic.twitter.com/nWpGpyEOJb
— WXChasing (Brandon Clement) (@bclemms) April 13, 2020
Louisiana Governor John Bell Edwards issued a state of emergency. One of the hardest-hit cities was Monroe, Louisiana with a population of roughly 50,000 people. Somewhere in the range of 200-300 structures were damaged.
As a result of the weekend storms, 1 million people are without power today in 13 southern states including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Strong winds are expected throughout the east coast on Wednesday and officials in several eastern states are already warning residents to be prepared for power outages.
On top of the coronavirus warnings, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio both issued warnings, advising “if you do not need to be outside tomorrow then stay home” and adding that “this storm makes that call all the more urgent.”
