Severe storms in the US have caused blizzard conditions and pose a threat of more tornadoes, reports AP.
Powerful storms that claimed two lives in Mississippi and caused roof damage in a small Oklahoma town swept across the country, bringing extreme weather to central and eastern parts of the US on Wednesday.
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At the same time, forecasters warned that a Pacific storm would bring widespread rain and mountain snow across California and the western US from Wednesday through Friday.
A tornado watch was issued for parts of North and South Carolina early on Wednesday, extending until the afternoon, while tornado warnings were also issued for Florida and South Carolina.
On Tuesday, strong winds forced changes to Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans, with the two major parades being moved up and shortened to avoid the bad weather. Tornadoes touched down on Tuesday in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary reports.
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In Mississippi, two fatalities were reported due to the severe weather, with Governor Tate Reeves sharing the news on social media without giving further details. WAPT-TV reported that one victim was killed by a falling power line in Madison County, while another died when a tree struck their car.
On Wednesday morning, officials in Nebraska advised against travel in the eastern part of the state due to low visibility caused by high winds. The Nebraska Department of Transportation closed a 130-mile stretch of Interstate 80 from Greenwood to Grand Island.
Blizzard conditions in southern Minnesota made travel hazardous on Wednesday morning, with the weather service in the Twin Cities issuing warnings about heavy snow and strong northerly winds that slowed movement across much of the area, including the Twin Cities, southern Minnesota, and western Wisconsin.
The storms left hundreds of thousands without power on Wednesday morning across the central and southeastern US, with over 111,000 outages in Texas, around 54,000 in Tennessee, and about 53,000 in Alabama, according to PowerOutage.us.
After over 850 flight cancellations nationwide on Tuesday, the storms began to disrupt traffic at major East Coast airports, affecting the broader commercial aviation system. Nearly 500 flights were cancelled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks delays and cancellations nationwide..