Sprawling storm wallops US with tornado reports, damage and heavy snow

A sprawling storm has hit the southern US with tornado warnings and high winds that blew roofs off homes, overturned camper vans and threw furniture around in Florida.

Another storm brought cities across the Mid West to a standstill with more than half a foot of snow, stranding people on highways as it headed to the north east.

At least three deaths in the South were attributed to the storm, where 55mph winds and hail moved through the Florida Panhandle and into parts of Alabama and Georgia by sunrise on Tuesday, along with at least several reports of radar-confirmed tornadoes, the National Weather Service said.

A wind gust of 106mph was recorded before dawn near the coast in Walton County, Florida.

Near Cottonwood, Alabama, 81-year-old Charlotte Paschal was killed when her mobile home was torn from its foundation, Houston County coroner said. A suspected tornado had touched down in the area.

Police in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, said a man died during heavy rain when a tree fell on his car on a state highway in Jonesboro.

In North Carolina, one person died and two other people are in critical condition after a suspected tornado struck a mobile home park in the town of Claremont, north of Charlotte, according to Amy McCauley, a spokeswoman for Catawba County

Storm-related injuries were reported in Florida, but no deaths. A section of Panama City Beach, Florida, showed parts of roofs blown away, furniture, fences and debris strewn about and a house that appeared tilted on its side, leaning on another home.

In Panama City, about 10 miles away, police early on Tuesday asked residents to stay indoors and off the roads “unless absolutely necessary” as officers checked on damage from the storms, including downed power lines and trees.

The city is in Bay County, where there were multiple reports of tornadoes on the ground, Sheriff Tommy Ford said.

“We’ve rescued people out of structures,” he said.

The department urged people to stay home, posting photos of a damaged apartment complex and marina.

Walton County sheriff’s department in the Florida Panhandle posted photos of power lines draped across a road, damage to a filling station and large pieces of building material littering the area.

About 70 miles north east, in Jackson County, Florida, photos showed damage to a campground and camp ground in Marianna.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order to include 49 counties in north Florida under a state of emergency from tornadoes.

“Every government building except this one is closed in Tallahassee because of the weather,” he said at the start of the speech. “We just do what we do in Florida: we respond when these things happen. We’ll handle whatever fallout is from these dangerous tornadoes.”

Heavy rain across Georgia stopped flights at Atlanta’s airport for a time on Tuesday morning and caused flash flooding, blocking some lanes on roads around Atlanta during the morning commute.

More than 80 public school systems across Georgia called off classes entirely while others taught students online or delayed the start of in-person classes.

More than 200,000 customers were without power in Florida, Alabama and Georgia, according to the PowerOutage.us website.

In North Carolina, governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency before the storm approached so weight and size restrictions on large and heavy trucks containing emergency supplies or agricultural goods would be waived.

Some schools were cancelled or shut down early to avoid threats from high winds and flooding.

In the Mid West, where a snowstorm started on Monday, up to 12in of snow could blanket a broad area stretching from south-eastern Colorado all the way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

That includes western Kansas, eastern Nebraska, large parts of Iowa, northern Missouri and north-western Illinois, said Bob Oravec, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Maryland.

The storm dumped around 8in to 12in of snow across Kansas, eastern Nebraska, South Dakota, western Iowa and south-western Minnesota on Monday, with 15in at North Sioux City, South Dakota, the National Weather Service reported.

Lower amounts fell over western Iowa, central Minnesota, Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

Poor road conditions contributed to a fatal crash early on Tuesday in south-eastern Wisconsin, Jefferson County Sheriff Paul Milbrath said in a news release. An SUV driver was killed after a collision with a lorry on state Highway 18.

It was the first major winter storm of the season for the Kansas City metro area, where the National Weather Service predicted 6in of snow by the time the storm moved on later on Tuesday.

The storm was expected to head east, bringing a combination of snow, rain and strong winds to the north east by Tuesday night, as well as concerns about flooding in areas such as New England, parts of which had more than a foot of snow on Sunday.

New Jersey governor Phil Murphy had already declared a state of emergency ahead of what is expected to be heavy rain and wind that will exacerbate the effects of bad weather since December.

Whiteout conditions in central Nebraska closed a long stretch of Interstate 80, while Kansas closed Interstate 70 from the central city of Russell all the way west to the Colorado border due to dangerous travel conditions.

Parts of northern Missouri braced for up to a foot of snow as the system moved east. Officials in Kansas City said City Hall would be closed on Tuesday and municipal courts would operate remotely.

Madison, Wisconsin, was under a winter storm warning until early Wednesday, with as much as 9in of snow and 40mph winds.

North-western Illinois was also under a winter storm warning with forecasts predicting 7in to 12in of snow by early Wednesday.

The Chicago area and Gary, Indiana, were under winter storm advisories, with up to 6in of snow and wind gusts of up to 30mph predicted. Snowfall could exceed an inch per hour on Tuesday, the weather service said.

Another storm is on the way that will affect the Pacific North West into the northern Rockies. Blizzard warnings were issued for much of the Cascade and Olympic ranges in Washington and Oregon.