Published on : Monday, April 13, 2020
In Texas, the National Weather Service confirmed at least one tornado nearly 50 miles east of Austin, as another more dangerous tornado moved towards the town of Monroe, Louisiana at 45 mph. The weather service said the greatest risk for strong storms ran from northeast Louisiana and southeast Arkansas, across wide swathes of Mississippi and Alabama and into western Georgia.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said that this could be a very difficult day weather-wise. Please be weather aware,” he added. He also added to pay attention and he knows that these storms that are coming through can be dangerous. They can see significant winds. They can also see significant tornadoes coming through Mississippi today.
At midday, the weather service in Birmingham said radar showed strong storms moving into Alabama from Mississippi.
The weather service said a broader area, from east Texas to the East Coast was under at least a “marginal” risk of storms. The severe weather — potentially impacting as many as 95 million Americans nationwide — comes as the US death toll for the coronavirus pandemic surpasses more than 20,000.
Much of the country was meanwhile living under some form of stay-at-home orders, with southern states like Florida having recently announced shutdowns of restaurants and businesses in an effort to slow the rate of transmissions and keep local hospital systems within capacity.
Severe storms also brought recent tornadoes to Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, as local officials reported dozens of injured residents.
Tags: tornadoes, Travel news, US, US Tourism