Tornadoes and thunderstorms on Saturday continued to pummel the South, which has been battered by extreme weather since mid-March.
Six people have died across the South, including five in Calhoun County, Alabama, and one in Coweta County, Georgia, since Thursday as a second wave of extreme weather hit the region, authorities said.
Three of those killed were relatives of Calhoun County’s Kalvin Bowers, who said, “I lost a brother-in-law. I lost a sister. I lost a niece. I got a brother in the hospital. And I got a niece in the hospital.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp toured storm-damaged communities Saturday.
“It’s a lot different from anything I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Just total destruction in many places.”
At least 24 tornadoes have touched down in Georgia and Alabama since Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
The NWS office in Birmingham, Alabama, said Saturday that it had recorded at least six tornadoes since Thursday that reached EF2 strength, which means sustained winds of at least 111 mph.
The weather service office in Atlanta said Friday that at least one tornado displayed evidence of 170 mph winds.
About 30 million people in the South and Mid-Atlantic continued to be under the threat of severe weather.
The National Weather Service on Saturday called for an “enhanced risk” of more thunderstorms and a “moderate risk” of excessive rainfall over parts of the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valley through Sunday morning.
Thunderstorms were also possible in the Mid-Atlantic through Monday morning, forecasters said.
“The primary hazards associated with the severe thunderstorms are frequent lightning, severe wind gusts, hail, and tornadoes,” the NWS said in a forecast discussion.
