At least two people are dead on the Florida Panhandle after a severe storm system that produced tornadoes passed through the area Thursday.
Tens of thousands of homes across several states were left without power due to the severe weather and numerous buildings suffered damages.
At least two other people were left injured in the wake of the tornado that tore through Florida’s Washington County, according to the National Weather Service and emergency management officials in the area.
The two left dead were killed inside a mobile home that was annihilated by the tornado, National Weather Service warning coordination meteorologist Mark Wool told USA Today.
“If you live in a mobile home or a residence that is not going to stand up to the wind – and there are a lot of those in the rural part of the state – you need to have a way to be alerted when the tornado warning comes out,” Wool said. “Otherwise, you'll sleep through it. And I suspect that's what happened here.”
The storm, which moved throughout the southeast U.S., has left around 185,000 customers without power so far as it cut across the Midwest and Gulf South. Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee were among the states affected.
The system also produced an EF3 tornado that terrorized Arkansas residents early Wednesday morning. The Storm Prediction Center reported much greater than usual tornado activity in March.
Dating back to the beginning of record collection in 1950, about 80 tornadoes are reported on average in the month of March. March 2022 saw at least 214.
