Powerful storms roll across South, causing death and damage

“They were praying, and I was crying. I was so scared; the house would not stop shaking”, the man reportedly said.

Hundreds of trailers in the park were destroyed, according to Weather.com. St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin says authorities are using dogs to search piles of rubble left in the wake of the storm to find anyone else still missing under the debris.

Government offices in 15 parishes closed at noon (1 p.m. ET) to get people home before the unsafe weather hit, state Administration Commissioner Jay Dardenne said. In Prairieville, Louisiana, the storm ripped the roof off of a Gold’s Gym, illustrating the devastating strength of the system as it moved into the eastern United States. The storm ripped it off, and people dropped their weights and fled.

Official in MS are also reporting a death from a possible tornado.

Martin told CNN that at last one person in Paincourtville was hospitalized, but he didn’t know details about the person’s condition.

In Paincourtville, the wind downed a water tower, he said. The Weather Service confirmed a handful of twisters directly and posted pictures of funnel clouds to social media.

Another man died in the neighboring state of MS when a storm smashed into his mobile home 100 miles north of New Orleans, county Emergency Management Director James Smith said.

The National Weather Service said new rain on already saturated soil could cause roads to flood, as well as low-lying areas and small streams. Other suspected tornadoes were reported north of Lake Pontchartrain and west of the city in St. Charles and Ascension parishes. Officials in Lamar County confirmed that a mobile home resident near Purvis died. Wind gusts may be particularly strong, reaching 70mph or more.

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryan declared a state of emergency for areas expected to be affected by the storm.

Schools across south Louisiana and MS canceled classes ahead of the storm. By late Tuesday, the storms had moved to southern Alabama and northern Florida, the report added. The storms also could stretch from the Florida panhandle to southern Tennessee.

“But it’s about 3 a.m. until about 11 a.m., current thinking, that we’ll see the strongest line of storms that could have embedded isolated tornadoes, damaging winds and very heavy rain”.