Tornadoes, power outages as storm crosses Texas, Louisiana

DALLAS (AP) — Tornadoes touched down in Texas and Louisiana as a powerful storm system that dropped heavy snow in California pushed through the Southern Plains and Deep South on Thursday, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights to and from the Dallas area.

Wind gusts of more than 70 mph (112 km/h) were reported in Texas as tornado watches were issued Thursday night in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. National Weather Service teams planned to head out Friday to survey areas for possible tornado damage in the storm’s path, which stretches from southeastern Oklahoma to Texas and neighboring Arkansas and Louisiana.

“If your phone is alerted and you hear sirens, that means the wind is as strong as a weak tornado,” the weather service tweeted. “So treat it like one! Get inside, away from the windows!”

The Dallas suburb of Richardson asked residents to stop using water after the storm knocked out power at pump stations.

“Water is currently in the city’s water storage facilities, but will be depleted if all customers do not immediately cease water use, except for emergency needs only,” Richardson officials said in a statement.

North of Dallas, winds downed trees, tore off the roof of a grocery store and overturned four 18-wheelers along U.S. Highway 75. According to police, only minor injuries were reported.

In Louisiana, a tornado touched down near Louisiana State University in Shreveport.

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More than 310,000 utility customers in Texas were without power as of Thursday night, according to poweroutage.us. That was down from 346,000 earlier in the evening.

FlightAware.com reported that Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field had recorded more than 400 cancellations in total, either to or from the airports.

Several school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area canceled after-school activities and events due to the forecast.

Forecasters said the storm system will continue to move east on Friday, bringing the risk of severe weather to the Ohio and Tennessee river valleys. It was likely to produce snow in the eastern Great Lakes and New England later in the day.

Forecasters say the same storm produced a “once-in-a-generation” snow in California and Oregon with up to 2 meters accumulating in places.

The snowfall, however, is credited with helping to reduce and in some areas eliminate drought conditions in California.

(tagsTo Translate)Texas

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