No casualties have been identified, according to initial information. Twenty tornadoes hit the southern United States overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, causing material damage and forcing some residents to take refuge in shelters as a precaution, the meteorological services said. They affected parts of the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, inflicting damage to some houses and roads and causing falling trees and power cuts, reported early Wednesday, the Center for storm prediction (Storm Prediction Center, SPC), from the National Weather Service.
“We are receiving reports of damage in the Eutaw (Greene County, Alabama) area, including damage to structures. We do not have details of this damage at this time. They are linked to a storm that caused a tornado,” the SPC office in Birmingham, Alabama said on social media. There is “reports of additional damage including numerous fallen trees and some residences north of Akron in Hale County, Alabama. This is the same storm that hit Eutaw,” adds the SPC.
During the day on Tuesday, alerts had been issued, which allowed the population to be ready. On Tuesday evening, about 40 million people were under tornado vigilance in the South and the center of the United States, according to the meteorological services. Local media have reported that dozens of residents in some localities in the south of the country have taken refuge as a precaution. There were no reports of evacuations. The situation, initially described as “particularly dangerous” by the SPC, should normalize on Wednesday according to the meteorological services.
A series of tornadoes had already affected the south of the country in early November, mainly Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, killing one person. This meteorological phenomenon, as impressive as it is difficult to predict, is relatively common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country. It is nonetheless devastating at times. Nearly a year ago, in December 2021, about 80 people lost their lives after multiple tornadoes swept through Kentucky.