Deadly severe storms rake Gulf Coast with 82-mph winds, baseball-sized hail, tornadoes
HENDERSON, La. – Powerful thunderstorms turned deadly Monday as they rumbled across the Gulf Coast, where they produced large hail, damaging winds, heavy rain and reports of tornadoes.
Severe weather alerts stretched from Texas to Florida, with the worst of the storms concentrated along and south of the Interstate 10 corridor. Flooding has also been a problem, especially in southeastern Texas, which is still reeling from extensive flooding brought on by heavy rain for the past couple of weeks.
The storms were blamed for at least one death on the outskirts of Henderson, Louisiana, in St. Martin Parish. The fatality was reported by Henderson Mayor Sherbin Collette, who warned of trees on roads and encouraged residents to stay home as first responders assisted with multiple storm-related calls in the parish.
According to local storm reports received by the National Weather Service, at least two buildings sustained roof damage in St. Martin Parish. One of those buildings was reported to partially collapse, while the other sustained less severe damage. The NWS also received reports of broken 1-inch tree limbs and blown-off roofing shingles.
Thunderstorms dropped hail up to the size of baseballs in Deep South Texas on Monday. Meanwhile, golf ball-sized hail was reported around Victoria, Texas, with similar-sized hailstones also reported in several places in Florida.
There have been a multitude of reports of trees and power lines being damaged by powerful winds produced by the thunderstorms, with more than 80,000 power outages spread across several Gulf Coast states. The strongest wind gust reported as of Monday evening was 82 mph in Milton, Florida, which rivals wind produced by a Category 1 hurricane.
Waterspouts were reported along the coast of the Florida Panhandle, as well. At least one of them made it ashore near Santa Rosa Beach to become a tornado. No significant damage was reported from the twister.
A possible tornado is being blamed for destruction reported in the area of Lake Charles, Louisiana, where significant damage was reported at a Walmart, stairs were detached from a home and a tractor-trailer overturned on Interstate 10.
A lightning strike caused damage to a runway at Houston's Hobby Airport and forced a closure, officials said. Passengers were urged to contact their airlines for updates on their flights.
Severe storms continued moving along the Gulf Coast through the overnight hours and were expected to cause problems in Florida and Georgia by Tuesday morning.
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center was also paying attention to areas of the Southeast from Mississippi to the Carolinas for possible severe thunderstorm development on Tuesday.
FLORIDA, GEORGIA UNDER TORNADO WATCH AS POWERFUL STORMS BLAST ACROSS SOUTHEAST
A large portion of the Southeast, as well as portions of the mid-Atlantic and the Tennessee and Ohio valleys, will be at risk of flash flooding on Tuesday. But portions of northern Florida and extreme southern Georgia have been placed in a Level 2 flash flood risk.
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Anyone living or working in those areas should download the free FOX Weather app and enable notifications to be alerted to any severe weather in the area, and to check on changes to the forecast.
Original article source: Deadly severe storms rake Gulf Coast with 82-mph winds, baseball-sized hail, tornadoes
