CNN
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A massive storm system that pulverized homes, Three people were killed in Louisiana And the blizzard conditions brought to the northern states could cause a new wave of brutal weather beginning Thursday.
Forecasters said a significant amount of snow and heavy snowfall could drench parts of the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
Blizzard warnings are in effect for the central West Virginia Appalachians, eastern West Virginia, the Maryland Panhandle, and parts of central and western Pennsylvania, where a quarter to a half inch of snow could accumulate Thursday night. .
Freezing rain and snow have already blanketed the Carolinas and parts of the Mid-Atlantic. A quarter-inch of snow was reported Thursday morning in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and Maryland, with parts of Virginia seeing up to a tenth of an inch.
Over the next two days, 6 to 12 inches of snow could accumulate from central Pennsylvania northward over New York. Higher elevations may be covered in up to 2 feet of snow.
Heavy snow will spread into inland New England on Friday, where up to a foot is expected.
The gigantic storm system that has hit much of the country this week will form a northeast easter It will spread snow, ice and rain in the Northeast.
Major cities including New York and Boston could see 1 to 2 inches of rain over the weekend from the Northeast. Winter weather advisories are in effect for Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia due to the possibility of freezing rain.
From hurricanes in the South to blizzards in the upper Midwest, more than 130,000 homes, businesses and other electricity customers across the US were without power Thursday morning. PowerOutage.us.
Most of those outages, about 115,000, occurred in Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. High winds from blizzard conditions downed power lines in the Upper Midwest and temperatures dropped near or below freezing in some areas without power.
In the South, which has been hit by multiple tornadoes, about 10,000 power customers were in the dark Thursday morning. About 9,000 power outages were reported in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.
To the south, the same storm system wreaked havoc in the Gulf Coast states.
At least 50 tornado reports have been made since Tuesday across Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma.
In Louisiana, as many as 5,000 structures may have been damaged when the tornado struck the city of Gretna on Wednesday, Mayor Belinda Constant said.
At least three deaths in Louisiana have been linked to the storm. In St. Charles Parish, a 56-year-old woman died after the tornado struck her home. Louisiana Department of Health he said on Wednesday.
A boy and his mother were found dead Tuesday after a tornado ripped through Keithville, in northwest Louisiana, the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
The bodies of the mother and son were found hours apart, not far from where their home once stood, authorities said.
In Texas, a tornado hit Wise County Tuesday near Paradise and Decatur, authorities said. The video shows vandalized homes and ripped off roofs in Decatur.
In Wayne, Oklahoma, a tornado damaged homes and sheds Tuesday, authorities said. No injuries were reported, but houses were leveled or roofs torn off, according to images. KOCO, CNN affiliate.
In the town of Farmerville, Louisiana, at least 20 people were injured when a tornado tore through Union Parish Tuesday night, demolishing parts of an apartment complex and a mobile home park, Farmerville Police Detective Kate Nolan said. .
Patsy Andrews was at home with her children in Farmerville when she heard a “wind like a train” outside, she said. KNOE-TV, CNN affiliate.
When he went to investigate, the son told him not to open the door. But it was too late.
“Suddenly the wind was so strong it blew my back door off,” Andrews said. “The lights went out and we could hear glass breaking everywhere.”
Andrews said she and her daughter hit the ground and scrambled down a sidewalk when glass shattered around them and water leaked through the roof. They were hiding in the bathroom.
“We got into the tank and hugged. We kept praying and I kept calling out to Jesus,” said Andrews, whose family survived the storm but left behind a damaged home.
A tornado struck New Iberia and damaged several homes, according to the New Iberia Police Department.
The Iberia Medical Center sustained “significant damage,” police Capt. Leland Laseret said on Facebook. CNN has reached out to the medical center for comment.
In Jefferson Parish, Councilman Scott Walker said he saw a trail of debris at least a mile long.
“Power lines were down, houses were badly damaged, roofs torn off,” he said in a video shared online describing the scene. “It’s an extensive scene of damage and a long trail of destruction in the West Bank.”
In Araby, Louisiana, Cindy DeLuca Hernandez thought she could beat the storm as she walked home with her 16-year-old son after school. She then she faced a hurricane.
Hernandez shared a video with CNN showing a tornado tearing through Arabi, kicking up debris and downing power lines.
“We started to see debris and we hit it twice,” he said. “That’s when I put the car in reverse.”
Hernandez and his son returned home safely.
But “it was very scary,” Hernandez said. “I’ve never come across anything like it.”