(CNN) – More than a dozen reported tornadoes struck communities in Texas and Louisiana, damaging many homes and businesses as windows and roofs were blown off buildings – and the threat is expected to continue in other Southern states on Wednesday.
A massive, multi-day storm is having multiple impacts across much of the US this week, with parts of Alabama, Florida and Mississippi under a tornado watch until 5 a.m. Wednesday, while snow is also in store for the Midwest.
“A winter storm will move into the Mid-Mississippi Valley Wednesday morning. Areas of heavy snow and a wintry mix over Oklahoma and the Ozarks will extend northeastward into the Ohio Valley through early Wednesday,” the National Weather Service said. said on Twitter.
On Tuesday, the storm wreaked havoc on the Houston-area communities of Deer Park and Pasadena, where fallen trees and debris littered the streets and thousands were without power after lines were downed.
“We’ve seen a lot of damage. We’ve seen buildings that have collapsed,” Pasadena Mayor Jeff Wagner said.
Josh Bruegger, the city’s police chief, described the damage as the worst he has seen in 25 years, adding: “We’re going to have our hands full in the coming days.”
In Deer Park, people who were at St. Hyacinth Catholic Church crouched in a hallway and closed all the doors when they heard what they thought was a tornado rolling through the area, Father Reginald Samuels said.
“It got really loud, we heard glass breaking, the building shook and then it got quiet,” Samuels told CNN, adding that no one was injured.
Damage was also reported at a nursing home in Deer Park, leading to the evacuation of about 60 residents Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Jerry Mouton told CNN. There were no reports of injuries, said Jerry Dilliard of the Atascocita Fire Department. CNN contacted the nursing home operator on Tuesday for more information.
While cleanup efforts take place at Deer Park, schools in the city will close Wednesday, the district said.
“We hope this will give families an opportunity to recover from the stress of today’s events, and we believe it is best for children to be with their parents or guardians after a natural disaster,” the district said in a statement statement to parents and employees. Tuesday night.
“It appears that many homes and businesses in our area have been damaged, and some neighborhoods remain without power at this time,” the statement continued.
Photos of the damage at the Deer Park show tree branches lying on roads, roofs blown off buildings and damaged vehicles.
More than 100,000 homes and businesses in Texas and Arkansas were in the dark early Wednesday morning, according to the tracking site PowerOutage.us. As of 9:00 PM ET, at least 14 tornadoes had been reported in southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana.
In Louisiana’s Beauregard Parish, the sheriff’s office reported significant damage to homes and other buildings, noting that roads were blocked and power lines were down. Nearly 16,000 homes and businesses were also without power in Louisiana early Wednesday morning.
Overall, there were no reports of serious injuries from Tuesday’s storm damage, with Pasadena officials reporting one injury.