At least one person killed as tornadoes strike Louisiana and Deep South

Tornadoes tore through Louisiana on Monday, killing at least one person and threatening huge swaths of Mississippi, western Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, authorities said.

About 11 million people were affected by the wild storms during the day and through the night, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center.

The rash of twisters are coming from a monster, 2,000-mile-long storm system that stretches from Colorado to New England.

A tornado struck Vernon Parish in Louisiana on Dec. 16, 2019.Vernon Parish Sheriff Dept.

Some points of the Rocky Mountains have recorded 40 inches of snow on Monday and transportation officials in the Northeast are bracing for a travel nightmare, where rain and snow are forecast to fall on airports and roads on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

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Temperatures in tornado-afflicted regions are 10 to 20 degrees above average for this time of year, meteorologists said. That heat, combined with the system’s high winds, are fueling severe storms through the night, despite losing daytime sunshine that usually boosts tornadoes.

Images from the region showed what appeared to be twisters near Foxworth and Columbia, Mississippi. The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings across the state and confirmed one twister near the community of Mize, southeast of Jackson.

“Take cover now if you are in the path of this dangerous storm!” the agency tweeted.

In Vernon Parish, Louisiana, which is about 240 miles northwest of New Orleans and 120 miles south of Shreveport, at least one person was killed by the extreme weather, according to sheriff’s deputies and the state’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

“We’ve got damage at lots of places. We’ve got a church where the fellowship hall is torn all to pieces,” said Vernon Parish Chief Deputy Calvin Turner said.

“Some homes are hit. Right now we’re having trouble just getting to places because of trees that are down.”

In the city of Alexandria, video showed authorities marching hand-in-hand with students out of Hope Baptist Church. The storm appeared to have demolished the church’s school building, though none of the dozens of children who are enrolled there were injured, Rapides County Chief Deputy Mark Wood told NBC News.

Wood said the students had been moved earlier into another building.

Emergency planners throughout the Deep South feared the threat of nocturnal tornadoes hitting overnight.

The nighttime twisters are more than twice as deadly as daytime tornadoes because it’s so much harder to see them coming and potential victims are asleep — and not watching TV, listening to the radio or online to receive evacuation warnings.

“Chance for strong storms starting this evening,” according to a statement by NOLA Ready, the city of New Orleans’ emergency preparedness operation. “Stay weather aware and have a way to receive emergency alerts.”

Associated Press and Tim Stelloh contributed.

source: nbcnews.com