Texas Gov. Greg Abbott activated a state emergency response on Jan. 2 to deal with the expected aftermath of severe weather moving across the southern states.
Abbott acted to make resources available after the National Weather Service warned that the eastern half of Texas would see a marginal-to-enhanced risk of severe storms, with the main hazards being destructive winds, tornadoes, huge hail, and heavy rainfall that might result in flash flooding.
The emergency resources in response to the Jan. 2 to Jan. 3 storms included the governor’s directive to the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to mobilize search and rescue teams, forest service saw crews, and emergency management teams.
“As we monitor conditions and potential threats, I urge Texans in affected areas to heed the guidance of local officials and remain weather-aware as severe weather systems develop. We will swiftly provide all necessary resources to address severe weather and protect our communities.”
To assist with activities to deal with severe weather across the state, the TDEM has engaged the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service: Texas Task Force Two—Urban Search and Rescue Team, who requested that a number of state agencies identify resources to put on standby for deployment if they were required.
Included in the standby resources were saw crews and incident management teams from the Texas Forest Service; Disaster Assessment and Recovery agents from the Texas Agrilife Extension Service; boat teams from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; and the Texas National Guard’s transportation platoons and helicopters with hoist capability.
The storm, which is still threatening large areas as of Jan. 3, continues its pass through the South with powerful tornadoes and flooding—while bringing ice and snow to the Plains and Upper Midwest.
Over the weekend it caused devastating floods in California before moving east.
In the South, more than 35 million people are in the path of the severe weather, with the Gulf Coast in the greatest danger. The chance of severe weather in southeast Louisiana, southern Mississippi, and Alabama was rated as level 3 out of 5 “increased” risk.
Strong storms may affect locations including Gulfport, Baton Rouge, and Montgomery. Nashville, New Orleans, and Atlanta were all rated with a 2 out of 5 chance of severe weather.
The National Weather Service issued tornado watches early on Jan. 3 for millions of people from Louisiana to Tennessee as temperatures warmed and conditions became more favorable for violent storms.
Several waves of severe weather could hit the region according to the Storm Prediction Center warned, “with the risk expected to persist well into the night across much of the area.”
As the storm swept across the football field, bleachers were thrown around, stadium light poles were split in half, and nearby homes and classrooms were damaged.
Although the school was in session and children were present, there were no reports of any injuries.
The sheriff’s office said a home was severely damaged and the area around it was evacuated. “All residents have been accounted for and reports of no injury have been made.”
The severity of the situation was echoed by AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and lead long-range forecaster Paul Pastelok who told The Epoch Times that the storm “is serious in nature because the water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico right now are running way above what they should be for this time of the year.”
The meteorologist went on to say that the system is “very strong” with a “lot of energy coming into the west coast … [and] making it all the way to southern plains.
“So areas of east Texas, and Louisiana, and Arkansas, getting up [into] ... southeast Missouri ... should be on alert that there could be some twisting in the upper lows of the atmosphere that forms these tornadoes,” Pastelok said.
