Weather threat moves east after tornado storms pummel Texas and Mississippi

(CNN) — A severe weather threat is moving to the Southeast and East Coast on Sunday after deadly tornado-spawning storms pummeled Texas and Mississippi, tearing through homes and leaving at least two people dead.

A high school student in Natchez, Mississippi, died after a tree fell on a home, Adams County emergency officials said Saturday. Another person died in northern Brazoria County, Texas, where a tornado touched down in four separate locations, according to Sheriff Bo Stallman.

Crews were still conducting searches and assessing the damage from Saturday’s storms as the severe weather took aim at the Southeast. Cities from north Florida to the Carolinas could see damaging wind gusts, large hail, and tornadoes on Sunday.

A line of severe thunderstorms will continue to charge eastward and will be capable of spawning tornadoes, quarter-sized hail, and 70 mph winds, the Storm Prediction Center said.

“The faster-moving northern part of a line of strong-severe thunderstorms will move northeastward across the watch area through midday, offering sporadic damaging to severe gusts and potential for a few embedded tornadoes,” the prediction center said.

It’s the same line of storms responsible for more than 150 storm reports Saturday, including more than 30 reported tornadoes.

“Severe thunderstorms and embedded heavy rainfall will affect most of the eastern states through Sunday,” the National Weather Service warned.

A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for parts of eastern South Carolina and central North Carolina until 5 p.m. This watch includes Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Raleigh and Wilmington, North Carolina.

Parts of southern Georgia, north Florida, and the Carolinas are under tornado watches as severe storms charge east with damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.

Multiple tornado sightings were reported Saturday as millions of Americans were under threat of twisters across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

Storm chaser video shows a violent, long-track tornado churning through McCall Creek in Mississippi on Saturday. In Porter, Texas, drone footage showed multiple houses with their roofs ripped off, splintered buildings, and toppled trees.

Nearly 200,000 customers were without power Sunday morning across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us.

The severe weather is also causing travel delays. More than 490 flights within, into, or out of the US have been canceled Sunday, and over 2,400 flights have been delayed, including hundreds of flights headed into or out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport, North Carolina’s American Airlines’ hub, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Severe weather also caused a partial power outage at Mississippi’s Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport, which resulted in delays and cancellations, the airport said in a social media post. The power outage has been resolved, the airport said.

On Sunday, the severe storm spreads to the Southeast, the East Coast, and parts of the mid-Atlantic. The area includes the cities of Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina.

‘It went from bad to worse’

In Texas, Anna Peterson said she told her husband to run after hearing the back door of her Brazoria County home fly open. The couple hid in a closet with their puppies as the storm intensified, she told CNN affiliate KHOU.

“About two or three minutes later, it was over and then we opened the front door to see, and it was all gone,” she said.

A trailer that had been secured on Peterson’s property had been blown into the property next door and destroyed.

A tornado touched down in multiple locations within a small area in Brazoria County and had a quick impact, according to Sheriff Bo Stallman.

“The damage has been extremely devastating,” he said.

Officials in Brazoria County were working to accommodate teachers and students at Walt Disney Elementary School, after it took storm damage, according to Manvel Mayor Dan Davis.

Davis shared a photo from inside the school in a Facebook post, which shows significant damage to the school’s ceiling and debris scattered around the floor.

“Recovery efforts across the area have commenced and I’m grateful to live in a County where the people truly care about one another,” Davis said in the post. “Over the next few days, properties will be cleared, power will be restored, and lives will start to be rebuilt. Please keep praying for all of those impacted!”

Residents in Montgomery County, about 80 miles north of Brazoria County, are also recovering from a possible tornado in their community.

Things went from “bad to worse” for Bill Hustus, who told KHOU that strong winds caused trees to fall on his house, and destroyed a home in his community.

“There was a two-story house right (across the street) that is no longer there,” he said.

Tornadoes are much less common in the US during December, averaging only around 40 – compared to the nearly 270 seen on average in May. This year, however, there have been 1,783 tornado reports as of December 27 – well above the average of 1,347 reports.