Severe storms wreaked havoc across the southern United States on Thursday, adding to the region's woes following earlier tornadoes that claimed three lives and left a young boy critically injured after he was swept into a storm drain while playing in a flooded street.
Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, experienced delays as a heavy line of storms hit near the end of the morning rush hour. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center issued an "enhanced risk" for severe weather from Texas to South Carolina. Reports of "significant wind damage" from a potential tornado came in from the Vidalia, Georgia, area on Thursday afternoon.
This recent bout of severe weather continues a week marked by torrential rains and tornadoes. Since Monday, 39 states have been under severe weather threats, resulting in at least four fatalities. Matthew Elliott, a forecaster with the Storm Prediction Center, stated that about 220 million people were at risk of severe weather on Wednesday and Thursday, with some areas facing danger on multiple days.
This weather pattern follows a stormy April, during which the U.S. experienced 300 confirmed tornadoes, the second-highest number for the month on record and the most since 2011. As of Thursday afternoon, more than 100,000 homes and businesses in several southern states remained without power after the previous night's storms, according to PowerOutage.us.
In Tennessee, storms caused extensive damage, injuring several people and claiming lives. A 22-year-old man died in Claiborne County, north of Knoxville, after his car was hit by a tornado. South of Nashville in Columbia, a tornado with winds of 140 mph (225 kph) damaged or destroyed over 100 homes, resulting in another fatality. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee reported that the victim in Maury County was in a mobile home that was thrown several feet into a wooded area.
In Christiana, southeast of Nashville, a 10-year-old boy named Asher was seriously injured when he was caught in a storm drain and swept under the streets while playing with other children. His father, Rutherford County Schools Superintendent Jimmy Sullivan, posted on social media that Asher survived after receiving CPR but sustained substantial injuries, stating, "Asher needs a miracle."
In DeKalb County, northern Alabama, a strong tornado damaged at least 20 homes and caused injuries but no deaths. North Carolina declared a state of emergency for Gaston County, west of Charlotte, after a storm toppled power lines and trees, killing one person in a car and sending another to the hospital.