Storms batter the South as week of deadly weather continues

(COLUMBIA, Tenn.) – Dangerous storms hit parts of the South on Thursday, even as the region was clear. severe weather which spawned apparent tornadoes, killed at least three people and seriously injured a boy who was swept down a storm drain while playing in a flooded street.

A strong series of storms hit Atlanta near the end of the morning rush hour. The busy hub airports of Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, reported delays. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center cited an “increased risk” of severe weather from Texas to South Carolina.

The storms continue a series of torrential rains and tornadoes this week from the Plains to the Midwest and now the Southeast. At least four people have died since Monday. Time comes in the wake of a stormy April in which the US had 300 confirmed tornadoes, the the second most registered for the month and the highest since 2011.

Nearly 250,000 homes and businesses were still without power Thursday in several Southern states following the previous night’s storms, according to PowerOutage.us.

One, in Tennessee, damaged homes, injured people, knocked down power lines and trees and killed a 22-year-old man in a car in Claiborne County, north of Knoxville, authorities said. A second person was killed south of Nashville in Columbia, where authorities said a likely tornado ripped homes from their foundations.

Bob Booth had just arrived home from Georgia in Columbia and was sitting down to watch television when he heard a “crazy noise.”

“I get up and look outside, and all hell is raging outside,” Booth said. “Then the top half of one of my trees comes down to the other side of the road.”

Retired pastor Walter Shell said he and his wife took their two dogs and went to the basement when his phone alerted him to a tornado.

“He missed about 10 centimeters from where my wife and I were. It took a turn,” he said. “It’s worth praying for, I can tell you.”

Torrential rains led to a flash flood emergency and water rescues northeast of Nashville, and the weather service issued a tornado emergency, its highest alert level, for nearby areas.

A 10-year-old boy was seriously injured in Christiana, southeast of Nashville, when he was caught in a storm drain and swept through the streets while playing with other children while adults cleaned up the debris, his father, the superintendent of Rutherford County schools, posted. Jimmy Sullivan. on the social networks.

The boy, Asher, emerged from a drainage ditch and survived after receiving CPR, “but the damage is substantial,” Sullivan posted on Facebook, asking for prayers. A vigil was planned for Thursday afternoon at the school district office.

“Asher needs a miracle,” Sullivan wrote.

Schools were closed Thursday in Rutherford and several other Tennessee counties. In Georgia, some districts north of Atlanta canceled in-person classes or delayed start times due to damage from overnight storms, which included fallen trees on homes and vehicles around Clarkesville. No injuries were reported there.

“We’re just trying to clean up now and wait for the next round,” said Lynn Smith, director of the Habersham County Emergency Management Agency.

A powerful tornado damaged at least 20 homes in north Alabama’s DeKalb County and caused injuries but no deaths, authorities said.

In North Carolina, a state of emergency was declared Wednesday night for Gaston County, west of Charlotte, following a storm that downed power lines and trees, including one that struck a car. One person in the car died and another was taken to a hospital, authorities said.

The storms followed heavy rain, high winds, hail and tornadoes across parts of the central US on Monday, including a tornado that destroyed an Oklahoma town and killed one person. On Tuesday, the Midwest suffered the impact of bad weather. Tornadoes touched down in parts of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, according to the weather service.

The Kalamazoo, Michigan area was hit hard when a FedEx facility was destroyed, with downed power lines trapping about 50 people.

Tornadoes were also confirmed near Pittsburgh, central Arkansas and northern West Virginia. The West Virginia twister was at least the 11th tornado this year in the state, which sees two tornadoes in an average year.

Both the Plains and the Midwest were hit by tornadoes this spring.

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Associated Press journalists from around the country contributed to this report, including Travis Loller, Jeff Amy, Joey Cappelletti, Ed White, Sarah Brumfield, Adrian Sainz and John Raby.