Six people have been killed in two states in a powerful March storm, officials said, as the severe weather system that brought blizzards to the Great Plains and high winds to the South continued to move across the United States.
The deaths — three in Nebraska and three in Mississippi — occurred Tuesday, authorities said.
More than 108 million people were under high wind advisories and 5 million more were under high wind warnings Wednesday afternoon as the storm continued to pose risks for an area from eastern Texas to Michigan and North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service. Many of those advisories later expired.
But on Tuesday, the storm caused severe winter weather in Nebraska that contributed to a head-on crash between a car and a tractor-trailer that killed three people, the Nebraska State Patrol said. Troopers responded to more than 300 weather-related traffic incidents, it said.
In Mississippi, a man was electrocuted in Ridgeland while trying to put out a grass fire caused by a downed power line, and a tree limb fell and killed a woman in Clarke County, authorities said.
The third death in the state occurred when a tree fell on top of a man driving on the Natchez Trace, NBC affiliate WLBT of Jackson reported, citing Madison County Deputy Coroner Joel Shows.
Six people were also injured by the severe weather in addition to the three who were killed, Gov. Tate Reeves said. Damage assessments were underway, he said.
A major low pressure system is causing the severe weather, the National Weather Service said. It was forecast to travel north and east across the Great Lakes and into southern Quebec through the day Thursday, it said.
Debris from a damaged warehouse after storms moved through Lewisville, Texas, on Tuesday.
The weather service office in Kansas City, Missouri, reported wind gusts of 70 mph early Wednesday and told residents to be prepared for possible power outages.
In Camp County, Texas, around 100 miles east of Dallas, high winds toppled mobile homes with people inside, the sheriff’s office said. Two people were rescued.
The weather service confirmed that a tornado measuring EF-1, meaning it had winds to up to 110 mph, hit Lewisville, Texas, on Tuesday, causing damage to a warehouse.
Eyewitness Joseph Kelly told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth he saw the twister at about 5:45 a.m.
“I heard this really loud, extreme noise, and I looked behind me, and there’s a little tiny tornado throwing debris up everywhere. It was literally behind my truck,” he said. Kelly added that he had always wanted to see a tornado but isn’t keen on being so near one again.
The storm moving across the county is also forecast to cause thunderstorms and rain on the East Coast. Soaking showers were falling in New York City and parts of upstate Wednesday afternoon — even though the low pressure system causing all the trouble was still over Ohio, the weather service for that region said.
The bright side: There is a lingering drought in the New York region, so the rain is welcome, the weather service office said.
In California, rain fell on the Los Angeles area as a different storm system pushed into the state, the weather service said.
Heavy snow is forecast for the Sierra Nevada mountains through Thursday night, with 10 to 20 inches of new snow possible in higher terrain, it said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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