The Latest: Weather agency confirms tornado in Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Latest on severe weather rumbling through Texas and Louisiana (all times local):
8:40 p.m.
The National Weather Service is confirming that a tornado hit the community of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, and flipped a mobile home, killing a woman and her 3-year-old daughter.
The weather agency said Sunday that a tornado with peak winds of 110 mph (180 kph) traveled for nearly 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) on the ground and had a width of about 20 yards (18 meters). The agency classified the tornado as an EF1.
Louisiana's governor is warning residents that the state should be on "high alert" for the storms and is urging people to stay off the roads.
The storm also damaged homes and buildings and knocked down power lines in Alexandria, Louisiana, which is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Breaux Bridge.
___
4:30 p.m.
Louisiana's governor is warning residents the "extremely dangerous weather" hitting the state is just getting started and the state should be on "high alert."
Gov. John Bel Edwards warned residents during a Sunday news conference that problems could last through the night.
The northern and central parts of the state are under a high-risk alert, which the governor says is an extremely rare classification. Those areas could get hail, flooding, high winds and possible tornadoes.
But the governor says the southern part of the state is also under a "moderate and enhanced" risk for severe weather as well, calling it a "state-wide weather event."
Two people died earlier Sunday when their trailer flipped over. Local officials called it a possible tornado but the governor says it was straight-line winds.
__
2:20 p.m.
Authorities say a suspected tornado demolished a mobile home in southern Louisiana, killing a mother and her 3-year-old daughter.
St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office Maj. Ginny Higgins says 38-year-old Francine Gotch and 3-year-old Nevaeh Alexander were inside the trailer when the storm caused it flipped over around 10:20 a.m. Sunday.
Witnesses told KLFY-TV that the father had gone to the grocery store before the storm occurred and came back to find the bodies.
National Weather Service meteorologist John Hart in Oklahoma says there is a risk for strong tornadoes and widespread damaging winds for east Texas and parts of Louisiana on Sunday. Meteorologists upgraded the threat to high and added a warning of a "particularly dangerous situation."
___
Corrects girl's first name to Nevaeh, not Neville.
___
11:45 a.m.
A Texas state trooper has reported seeing a tornado touch down near Center Point, Texas, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio, Texas.
National Weather Service meteorologist Yvette Benavides with the Austin/San Antonio office says the trooper reported seeing the tornado touchdown about 8 a.m. Sunday. Benavides says there were no reports of major or structural damage from the unconfirmed tornado.
The weather service offices in Austin/San Antonio and Fort Worth had received reports of minor wind damage to trees, up to quarter-sized hail and minor flooding in south central Texas areas.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has said the storms travelling east along the Interstate 20 corridor through Louisiana could cause significant wind damage throughout the day and into Sunday night.
___
7:40 a.m.
A storm system rumbling eastward through Texas toward the lower Mississippi Valley could pelt the region with large hail and cause flash-flooding and spawn tornadoes.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center says the storms are likely to cause significant wind damage near and north of the Interstate 20 corridor in east Texas and Louisiana throughout the day and into Sunday night. It says there is a risk of baseball-sized hail and tornadoes, including strong ones, in that area.
The storms will also pass through southern Arkansas and central and southern Mississippi.
