April 3 (UPI) — At least two people died in a possible tornado in Louisiana as a severe weather bringing damaging winds and possible flooding is expected to move through the U.S. Southeast on Monday, officials said.
Louisiana’s St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office said there were two deaths in the city of Breaux Bridge at about 9:30 a.m. on Sunday after a possible tornado flipped over a trailer and caused damage.
“The two occupants that were in the home at the time of the storm were killed. They have been identified as Francine Gotch, 38, and her daughter, Nevaeh Alexander, 3,” the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
There were at least three tornadoes in northeast Louisiana. At least 15 structures were damaged. There has been flooding and wind damage in central Mississippi, the National Weather Service said.
The severe weather system is forecast to move east through New Orleans, Alabama, the Florida panhandle, Georgia and South Carolina on Monday. The NWS has issued flood, wind, thunderstorm, and tornado watches and warnings throughout the areas expected to be affected.
“Tornadoes and damaging wind are likely Monday, extending from southern Mississippi northeastward into South Carolina, with greatest tornado risk centered over southern Alabama. Damaging winds, possibly widespread and significant, are anticipated throughout much of the region,” the NWS said.
At least four school districts in southern Alabama — Baldwin County Public Schools, Monroe County Public Schools, Mobile County Public Schools and Chickasaw City Schools — said schools would shut down on Monday in anticipation of the storm.
