Storm kills 3 in Virginia day after Gulf Coast tornadoes
By Gary Robertson
RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - Violent thunderstorms and damaging winds lashed the U.S. Southeast and mid-Atlantic region on Wednesday, killing at least three people in Virginia a day after tornadoes claimed three lives along the Gulf Coast, authorities said.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of potential tornadoes along a line of storms stretching from Raleigh, North Carolina, north to parts of Virginia, Maryland and the Washington, D.C. area.
Three people were confirmed dead in Waverly, Virginia, a town of some 2,300 residents about 45 miles southeast of Richmond, where at least three structures sustained heavy damage in a mid-afternoon storm, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
Geller said she had no details about the circumstances of the deaths. A funnel cloud was reported in the vicinity at the time of the storm, but there was no immediate official confirmation of a twister, she said.
Two highways leading into the town, U.S. Route 460 and State Route 40, were left impassable by heavy debris from the storm, state police said. Authorities also were responding to widespread reports of local flooding.
The casualties and damage in Virginia came a day after twisters killed at least three people and left a path of destruction in Louisiana and Mississippi.
A storm earlier on Wednesday destroyed a mobile home in Wayne County in central North Carolina, while wind gusts of up to 53 miles per hour were reported at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport in South Carolina, the NWS said.
Schools in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida canceled classes or shifted hours ahead of severe weather forecasts.
In Louisiana, rescue crews combed through debris for anyone who might have been trapped after at least seven tornadoes pummeled the state and Mississippi on Tuesday.
Among the hardest hit was the Mississippi River hamlet of Convent, in St. James Parish, Louisiana, where state officials said two people died and dozens were injured at one trailer park. Most of the estimated 160 mobile homes were destroyed at the park, located about 60 miles west of New Orleans.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said it was "a minor miracle" the casualty toll was not higher as most of the trailers were occupied when the storm hit.
In Assumption Parish, which borders St. James Parish, more than 100 homes and businesses were damaged and several were destroyed, said sheriff's office spokesman Robert Martin.
The National Weather Service confirmed one fatality near the Mississippi town of Purvis, where a mobile home was destroyed.
Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for two counties lashed by a tornado on Tuesday night. Several people were injured and about 70 homes damaged when a tornado ripped through Pensacola, Florida, local media reported.
(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C.; additional reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C. and Letitia Stein in Atlanta; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown)
