At least 10 million people have been under winter-weather watches or advisories – as a powerful storm system pushes across the country and heads northwards Wednesday.
The line of extremely strong storms marched across parts of the South bringing tornadoes, damaging winds, hail, and heavy rain.
At least five tornadoes struck in Texas alone.
In the city of Grapevine, TX, roofs were ripped apart and sheets of metal wrapped around power lines. At least five people were injured.
“You can see the damage that it did just in an instant, which is incredible,” said Grapevine resident Dave Canis. “I’ve never seen anything like that here in Grapevine.”
Isela Gonzales of Decatur, TX described the harrowing ordeal.
“I just heard a big old gush of wind and like really, really heavy rain, and then like all of the sudden it was just kind of quiet for a minute,” said Gonzales.
“And then all that wind picked up, and I just grabbed a hold of that bar that’s in the restroom and because it shook the house,” added Gonzales. “It was shaking the house really bad and then I heard my mom screaming because she had my kids in the house.”
Destruction has also been reported in Wayne, OK after a confirmed EF-2 tornado touched down Tuesday.
In Louisiana, the storms turned deadly after a mother and her child went missing when a tornado blew away their home.
Authorities say the child didn’t survive and the father, who was at work at the time of the storm, had to show deputies where their home once stood.
“They’re having to go through trees that are down and power lines and try to find the bulk of the house, and search and see if there’s anything that we can do there,” said Sheriff Steve Pator of Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office.
A twister near the Dallas Fort Worth airport forced travelers to take shelter.
The storm system now threatens to create even more damage in the South while the northern U.S. is under blizzard warnings.
Residents are bracing for up to two feet of snow along with dangerous 55-mile-per-hour winds from Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado to Texas.
The winter blast is also making for treacherous conditions on the roads. Parts of Interstate 70 east of Denver and a 200-mile stretch of I-90 in South Dakota are shut down due to the severe weather.
Meanwhile, forecasters expect the storm system to head into the Northeast by the end of next week.
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