Several climatic phenomena threaten several cities in the United States and cause deaths, according to the authorities of the localities, who already count at least two dead.
Storms killed two people in Mississippi, the roofs of an apartment building and a residence for the elderly of a small town in Oklahoma and threatened other communities in the United States on Tuesday.
The huge storm system also caused blinding dust storms in the southwest of the country and bliss without visibility in the North Central Region, and raised forest fire fears in other parts of the country.
In Irving, Texas, there was a tornado with winds of up to 177 kilometers per hour (110 miles per hour), while another touched land in the city of Ada, Oklahoma, of 16,000 inhabitants, according to the preliminary information of the National Meteorological Service. There were also two tornadoes in the municipality of Caddo, in northern Louisiana, and at least five in eastern Oklahoma.
In New Orleans, strong winds forced some changes in the Mardi Gras. The city advanced and shortened the two most important parades of the celebration to conclude them before the strong winds arrived.
Time did not prevent Shalaaska Jones and her 2 -year -old daughter from greeting the floats of Mardi Gras and hoped to take one of the coveted coconuts that are thrown into the crowd.
“We came with rain, Aguanieve or Snow,” Jones said.
The alarming prognosis was one of the first major evidence for the National Meteorological Service after the dismissal last week of hundreds of meteorologists as part of the actions of President Donald Trump to reduce the size of the federal government. Several former employees said that the dismissal of workers who make crucial local forecasts in the United States could put lives at risk, although it was too early to know the impact on forecasts and warnings for this storm.
Storm deaths in Mississippi
Two people died due to bad weather, according to the governor, Tate Reeves, in the social network X. He gave no more details.
WAPT-TV reported that a person died from the fall of an electric laying in Madison County, while a driver in the same county died crushed by a tree that fell on his car.
Hundreds of thousands without electricity
The storms that crossed Texas and Oklahoma brought strong winds and rain, turned tractocamions and damaged buildings. More than 178,000 clients were left without electricity in Texas, around 23,000 in Louisiana, another 18,000 in Mississippi, approximately 88,000 in Alabama, more than 16,000 in Oklahoma and more than 23,000 in Tennessee, according to Poweroutage.us.
More power cuts were expected as a storm line advances by Mississippi and Louisiana and heads towards Alabama, producing gusts of 113 km/h (70 mph), the weather service reported.
Strong winds cause fires and damage to Texas
In San Antonio, Texas, the strong winds caused at least two fires in grasslands that damaged several structures and led the authorities to order mandatory evacuations in two areas to the south of the city. One of the fires led the authorities to request the evacuation of about 30 houses, the San Antonio Chief of Firefighters, Valerie Frausto, told reporters.
For Tuesday afternoon, the Texas A&M forest service was responding to 13 active forest fires throughout the state, said service spokesman Adam Turner.
In northern Texas, strong electric storms with bursts above 112.7 km/h (70 mph) damaged apartments, schools and rolling houses. In the apartments the haciendas in Irving, northwest of Dallas, the strong winds broke windows and the brick coating of one of the walls of the building.
The storms left several Irving schools without electricity. In the plane, north of Dallas, the winds started parts of the metal roof of a high school. In Parker County, west of Fort Worth, at least three rolling house trailers were overturned by strong winds.
The big plains and states in the northern central region of the country were preparing for snowstorm conditions that meteorologists warned could make the displacements dangerous.
The schools suspended the classes for Wednesday in several school districts in southern Minnesota due to the snowstorm conditions that are expected to leave between 13 and 28 centimeters (5 and 11 inches) of snow in the area. Even more worrying were the winds that were expected to reach bursts above 80 km/h (50 mph) and stayed at high levels until Wednesday.
The National Meteorological Service in twin cities said in X on Tuesday night that it was not recommended to circulate in a large part of the southern Minnesota.
“It is difficult to find a @mndot road camera that is not covered with ice or fully blocked by the snow that blows,” said the publication.
It is forecast that Dakota del Sur will receive up to 12.7 centimeters (5 inches) of snow in some areas, and for Tuesday night, strong winds had already deteriorated the conditions of the roads.
Jay Jones, who works at Love's Truck Stop in Sioux Falls, said he saw garbage containers fly while the winds reached bursts of around 80.5 km/h (50 mph). Parts of the Interestatal 29 highway that go north towards Dakota del Norte were closed by the weather.
“It looks bad bad out there,” said Jones, adding that he walked to work, so “he will have to endure” on his way home.
In des Moines, Iowa, bursts were forecast up to 105 km/h (65 mph) Tuesday night, a rare phenomenon, meteorologists said.
The strong winds and snow were making traveling dangerous on Tuesday night in East Nebraska, according to the National Meteorological Service. Part of the interest 80 was temporarily closed and the agency recommended avoiding roads if possible.
At the national level, more than 500 flights were canceled, according to FlightTaware.com, which tracks delays and cancellations. Dallas airports were the ones that canceled the largest amount of flights between the United States airports.
The region prepares for a severe climate during Mardi Gras
The New Orleans Police Superintendent, Anne Kirkpatrick, ordered the attendees to the parades that would not carry umbrellas, tents or “nothing that could fly with the wind and cause chaos.” In the neighboring parish of Jefferson, the authorities canceled the parades planned for Mardi Gras's day due to the forecasts of strong winds and thunderstorms.
Even with the strong winds that whipped New Orleans, the festive Bourbon Street was full of juerguistas dressed in purple, gold and yellow, who shouted to take the accounts of accounts thrown from the balconies during the night.
Ashley Luna and her aunt danced and jumped by Bourbon Street holding drinks under the dark sky, without worrying about the perspectives of the night.
“The weather can always change. I'm not really worried about that, “Luna said.” I'm just letting me take. “