Houston, Mar 5 (UNI) From Texas to Tennessee, a number of severe storms on Tuesday battered large parts of the U.S. South with winds, hail, plumes of dust, and tornadoes, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power.
More than 400,000 homes, businesses and other utility customers across five states -- Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee -- are without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
The National Weather Service confirmed a brief EF1 tornado hit the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Irving in northern Texas earlier Tuesday, with damage spread over a few blocks.
More than 375 flights to or from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport have been cancelled, according to airline tracker FlightAware.com. Another 660 were delayed.
In Lewisville, Texas, a warehouse for Benjamin Moore Paints was seen torn open after a suspected tornado ripped through. Part of the warehouse collapsed, and the debris buried semi-trailers and other vehicles nearby, local media reported.
In Oklahoma, another confirmed EF1 tornado heavily damaged a volunteer fire station and snapped numerous trees in Pontotoc County.
Parades for Fat Tuesday, the traditional peak of Louisiana Mardi Gras parades, were officially cancelled in Jefferson Parish, which is part of the greater New Orleans area, due to the weather problems.
The wind damage threat will continue overnight across the Deep South, said a report from the weather.com.
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