Tornado outbreak in the South leaves at least 30 dead

Ferocious winds walloped the East Coast on Monday after a harrowing Easter night that saw people huddled in basements, closets and tubs as tornadoes raged across the South, leaving at least 30 dead. 

It's the nation's deadliest tornado outbreak in  six years, since April 2014, when 35 people were killed in the central and southern U.S., the Storm Prediction Center said.

Destructive winds were reported across the East on Monday, the Weather Channel said, a day after at least 40 reported tornadoes pounded several states. Millions of residents remained under high-wind warnings late Monday, but no other tornadoes were reported.

Calmer weather is forecast across much of the country for Tuesday, with only a slight chance of severe storms in a small area in the South. As cleanup continues in the hardest-hit areas of the South, "thunderstorms capable of isolated severe wind gusts and hail are expected to develop across parts of southern Georgia and Florida," the Storm Prediction Center said.

The good news is that the threat for tornadoes is low, the center said.

The death toll from the storms so far is staggering: Eleven people were killed in Mississippi, nine were found dead in South Carolina, and six more died in northwest Georgia. Others died under falling trees or inside collapsed buildings in Arkansas and North Carolina.

In Mississippi and Louisiana, the system spawned at least 13 radar-confirmed tornadoes Sunday that damaged up to 300 homes and buildings. More than 60,000 customers were without power across the two states. 

The Chattanooga, Tennessee, area and several counties in northwest Georgia appeared to take the brunt of the destruction. Murray County, Georgia, Fire Chief Dewayne Bain told WAGA-TV that two mobile home parks were severely damaged.

Five people were killed and five others hospitalized; another person was killed when a tree fell on a home in Cartersville, Georgia, the station reported.

At least 14 people were hospitalized in the Chattanooga area, where search and rescue teams from at least 10 fire departments were going door to door responding to more than 300 emergency calls, the fire department said.

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The fierce storm system caused flooding and mudslides in mountainous areas overnight and knocked out electricity for nearly 1.3 million customers in a path from Texas to Maine, according to poweroutage.us.

The National Weather Service recorded hundreds of reports of trees down across the region, including many that punctured roofs and downed power lines.

Fatalities were reported across four counties in Mississippi, according to local authorities. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency.

"This is not how anyone wants to celebrate Easter Sunday," Reeves said on Twitter. "As we reflect on the death and resurrection on this Easter Sunday, we have faith that we will all rise together."

As the severe weather swept across Mississippi on Sunday, Melinda Drummond and her husband, Steve, were trying to make the best of the Easter holiday during the coronavirus shelter-in-place order.

While the couple were watching television in their 1919 home in Soso, the power began to blink. In minutes, a catastrophic tornado ripped through the town, shredding trees, bringing down power lines and damaging homes.

"By the time I got the TV back on, they were showing the tornado right at Soso," she said.

Drummond said it seemed as if the tornado took forever. "It roared and roared and stuff just started hitting the house hard," she said.

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The couple took shelter in the closet as the tornado passed through. A large tree snapped in two, falling within inches of the couple's home.

At least one person in Soso died from injuries sustained in the tornado, Jones County Coroner Burl Hall said Sunday evening.

In rural Moss, Mississippi, Andrew Phillips crowded into a closet-sized “safe room” with his wife and two sons after watching an online Easter service because the pandemic forced their church to halt regular worship. Then a twister struck, shredding their house, a meat-processing business and vehicles. The room, built of sturdy cinder blocks, was the only thing on their property left standing.

“I’m just going to let the insurance handle it and trust in the good Lord,” Phillips said.

The National Weather Service reported tornadoes over the northwest and north-central parts of Louisiana. The city of Monroe said the storm damaged commercial buildings and homes in multiple neighborhoods. 

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency.

Contributing: Jessica Flores and, Steve Kiggins, USA TODAY; Lisi  Beveridge and Wilton Jackson, The Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Miss.); The Associated Press