Written by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Southerners were clearing trees from roads and buildings as weather forecasters planned to survey damage from several possible tornadoes in Georgia and South Carolina, but said that effort could be interrupted by the potential for more storms Wednesday.
Tuesday’s storms killed at least two people — one in Texas and another in Georgia — and left thousands of people without power across the South.
More than 7,000 customers in Texas and more than 5,000 in Georgia remained without power early Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
In Bryan County, Georgia, just west of Savannah, a state of emergency was declared and a curfew was in effect through early Wednesday morning to prevent trespassing in tornado-damaged areas near the communities of Pembroke and Ellabell areas.
A woman died Tuesday evening in Bryan County, where a suspected tornado ripped part of the roof from the Bryan County courthouse, destroyed the entrance to a local government building across the street and damaged homes in nearby neighborhoods, said Matthew Kent, a county government spokesperson. Several other people were injured in the county, he said
In east Texas, W. M. Soloman, 71, died when storm winds toppled a tree onto his home in Whitehouse, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas, Whitehouse Mayor James Wansley said.
As the storms moved into South Carolina late Tuesday, debate was delayed for nearly an hour in the South Carolina legislature after the state House chamber was evacuated for a tornado warning for Columbia. The legislation being debated would require athletes to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates.
In Alabama, the weather service said it was sending survey teams to examine potential tornado damage in the Wetumpka area. Lightning struck a flea market in the northern Alabama community of Lacey’s Spring, causing a fire that gutted the building, news outlets reported.
In Mississippi, fallen trees and limbs closed a stretch of highway for hours in Newton County.
Several tornadoes are expected across a large part of the South on Wednesday, the national Storm Prediction Center said. Parts of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee will be at greatest risk of severe weather. That area of heightened risk includes several large cities, including Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; and Knoxville, Tennessee.
Photo via AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine.
Related Stories
‹

How Helene Became the Near-Perfect Storm To Bring Widespread Destruction Across the SouthHurricane Helene killed and destroyed far and wide — from Tampa to Atlanta to Asheville, North Carolina, its high winds, heavy rains and sheer size created a perfect mix for devastation.

Powerful Storm Kills 2 People and Leaves 1.1 Million Without Power in Eastern USWritten by ASHRAF KHALIL AND JEFFREY COLLINS At least two people died, thousands of U.S. flights were canceled or delayed, and more than 1.1 million homes and businesses lost power Monday as severe storms, including hail and lightning, moved through the eastern U.S. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the greater D.C. area, lasting until […]

Election Officials Brace for Confrontational Poll WatchersWritten by HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and NICHOLAS RICCARDI The situation with the poll watcher had gotten so bad that Anne Risku, the election director in North Carolina’s Wayne County, had to intervene via speakerphone. “You need to back off!” Risku recalled hollering after the woman wedged herself between a voter and the machine where the voter […]

Chansky's Notebook: The Games We NeedSports are more important than ever right now. The juxtaposition of Election Night in America and the deciding game of the World Series showed why there may be only one true common denominator left. Atlanta is a blue city that swung elections in red Georgia’s favor in 2020 and ’21. Houston is in the middle […]
![]()
Seeing Danger, Some in GOP Leery of Texas Abortion LawWritten by SARA BURNETT, SARAH RANKIN and LISA MASCARO Almost instantly after most abortions were banned in Texas, Democrats were decrying the new law as unconstitutional, an assault on women’s health that must be challenged. But the reaction from many Republicans on the other side hasn’t been nearly as emphatic. Though some in the GOP […]

Republicans Take to Mask Wars as Virus Surges in Red StatesWritten by WILL WEISSERT Top Republicans are battling school districts in their own states’ urban, heavily Democratic areas over whether students should be required to mask up as they head back to school — reigniting ideological divides over mandates even as the latest coronavirus surge ravages the reddest, most unvaccinated parts of the nation. Republican Gov. […]
![]()
Tornado Outbreak Rips Across Deep South; At Least 5 DeadWritten by KEVIN McGILL Tornadoes and severe storms have torn through the Deep South, killing at least five people as strong winds splintered trees, wrecked homes and downed power lines. The tornado outbreak rolled into western Georgia early Friday. Meteorologists said one large, dangerous tornado moved through Newnan and surrounding communities in the Atlanta metro area. […]
![]()
A Rapid COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Backfired in Some U.S. StatesWritten by CARLA K. JOHNSON and NICKY FORSTER Despite the clamor to speed up the U.S. vaccination drive against COVID-19 and get the country back to normal, the first three months of the rollout suggest faster is not necessarily better. A surprising new analysis found that states such as South Carolina and Florida that raced ahead […]
![]()
South Emerges as Flashpoint of Brewing Redistricting BattleWritten by NICHOLAS RICCARDI The partisan showdown over redistricting has hardly begun, but already both sides agree on one thing: It largely comes down to the South. The states from North Carolina to Texas are set to be premier battlegrounds for the once-a-decade fight over redrawing political boundaries. That’s thanks to a population boom, mostly one-party […]

Lights Come Back on in Texas as Water Woes Rise in the SouthMany of the millions of Texans who lost power for days after a deadly winter blast overwhelmed the electric grid now have it back, but the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, with many people lacking safe drinking water. Nearly 185,000 homes and businesses remained without power in Texas according to […]
›
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines