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[Breaking news update at 9:05 a.m. ET]
At least one person was killed and nearly two dozen were injured after severe weather swept through Jasper County, Mississippi, on Sunday night, local officials said in a news release.
[Previous story, publish at 8:50 a.m. ET]
More than 50 million people in the Southeast face the possibility of severe weather Monday as record-breaking, sweltering temperatures threaten millions more, including many who remain without power after several storms last week.
There is a 2 out of 5 slight risk of severe weather for parts of the Gulf Coast and the Southeast, including the cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, Jacksonville, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and Savannah, Georgia. The main threats are damaging wind gusts, large hail and isolated tornadoes.
A level 1 of 5 marginal risk extends from central Texas to southern Florida and northern to western North Carolina, leaving cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Tampa, Orlando and Miami in Florida under the threat of large hail and damaging wind gusts.
The same system spawned a reported tornado in Mississippi on Sunday afternoon, leaving multiple injuries and structural damage around Bay Springs and Louin, according to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service.
A shelter “for all those displaced by the recent destruction of tornado activity” was set to open Monday morning, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook publication
This followed several days of severe weather in the region, including a tornado last Thursday that devastated the Texas Panhandle community of Perryton, where three people, including an 11-year-old boy, were killed and more than a hundred more were injured.
On Monday, the threat of excessive rain moves eastward into southeastern parts of the country, bringing the threat of thunderstorms and flooding to parts of the Southeast, the southern Mid-Atlantic, and the Southern Appalachia.
Monday’s threat follows more than 70 reports of thunderstorms across the Southeast on Sunday, according to the Storm Prediction Center, including up to eight reports of tornadoes, mostly in central Mississippi. Hail two inches wide or larger was also reported Sunday in Kerr County, Texas, about 65 miles northwest of San Antonio.
Meanwhile, about 35 million people are under heat warnings for a heat wave that has swept across much of Texas, Louisiana and southern New Mexico and Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service.
Many are braving the heat without air conditioning with 465,000 customers without power in the South Monday morning after severe weather in recent days, including 215,000 in Oklahoma and about 85,000 in Texas and another 83,000 in Louisiana, it said. PowerOutage.us.
The National Meteorological Service advises residents to stay indoors during the hottest part of the day, drink plenty of water and not leave children or pets in vehicles.
“In case we haven’t said it enough,” the Weather Service in Midland, Texas, he tweeted, will be “HOT. Try to spend as little time outdoors as possible, but if you must be outside, take frequent air conditioning breaks, drink plenty of water and spend as much time as possible in the shade.”
As the heat wave lingers, more than 40 daily records could be tied or broken across Texas this week. The worst heat is expected Monday through Wednesday.
The combination of temperature and humidity, or the heat index, could climb from 113 to 122 degrees in cities like Houston, San Antonio, Brownsville and Dallas.
Several daily heat records were already broken on Sunday. Del Rio, Texas, recorded a temperature of 111 degrees on Sunday, breaking the previous daily record of 106 degrees set in 2011. Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, tied its record of 106 degrees set a dozen years ago and McAllen, Texas, reported. a record 105 degrees.
“The 100-year temperatures will not only rival daily high temperature marks for the nation, but may tie or break existing records,” the weather service said. “There will be little relief (with) overnight with lows in the upper 70s and 80s.”
Southern cities, some still cleaning up from last week’s storms, are preparing for the hot weather by opening cooling centers.
Houston will have it cooling centers open Monday from 3 to 7 p.m., as the city prepares for the high temperatures. Caddo Parish in Louisiana has opened additional cooling centers as it deals with power outages and storm cleanup.
The New Orleans Emergency Preparedness Campaign is working with the New Orleans Fire Department to set up hydration stations to provide water and sun protection on Sunday and Monday.
