COLUMBIA, Tenn.—Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the South on May 9 even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned apparent tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
A heavy line of storms swept into Atlanta near the end of the morning rush hour. Busy hub airports in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, reported delays. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center cited an “enhanced risk” for severe weather from Texas to South Carolina.
The storms continue a streak of torrential rains and tornadoes in early May from the Plains to the Midwest and, now, the Southeast. Since May 6, 39 states have been under threat of severe weather and at least four people have died. On May 8, 98 million people were under some sort of severe weather risk, said Evan Bentley, a Storm Prediction Center forecaster.
The weather comes on the heels of a stormy April in which the U.S. had 300 confirmed tornadoes, the second-most on record for the month and the most since 2011.
Nearly a quarter-million homes and businesses still lacked power May 9 in several Southern states after storms the night before, according to PowerOutage.us. (AP)
