by
CNN
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The massive storm system that ravaged Louisiana’s homes, killed three people and brought blizzard conditions to northern states will set off a new wave of wild weather starting Thursday.
Forecasters said significant ice and heavy snow would suffocate parts of the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
Ice storm warnings are in effect for central Appalachians of West Virginia, eastern West Virginia, the Maryland Panhandle, and parts of central and western Pennsylvania where a quarter-inch to half-inch of ice may accumulate by Thursday evening.
Freezing rain and snow are already covering parts of Carolina and parts of the Mid-Atlantic. A quarter-inch of ice was reported in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and Maryland on Thursday morning, and about a tenth of an inch had accumulated in parts of Virginia.
And over the next two days, 6 to 12 inches of snow could accumulate north from central Pennsylvania, outside of New York state. Higher altitude locations can be covered with 2 feet of snow.
Heavy snowfall will spread to the interior of New England on Friday and is expected to reach up to one meter there.
The mammoth storm system that has swept through much of the country this week will turn into a nor’easter spreading ice, snow and rain to the Northeast.
Major cities like New York and Boston will be drenched with 1 to 2 inches of rain from nor’easter to weekend. Winter weather warnings are in effect for Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia due to the possibility of freezing rain.
From hurricanes in the South to blizzard conditions in the Upper Midwest, more than 130,000 homes, businesses, and other electrical customers in the United States were without electricity Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
Most of these cuts — about 115,000 — occurred in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. High winds from blizzard conditions knocked out power lines in the Upper Midwest, and temperatures dropped to near or below freezing in some areas without electricity.
In the South hit by multiple hurricanes, nearly 10,000 electrical customers were in the dark on Thursday morning. Nearly 9,000 outages were reported in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.
Further south, the same storm system has left a trail of destruction in the Gulf Coast states.
At least 50 tornadoes have been reported in Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma since Tuesday.
Louisiana Mayor Belinda Constant said as many as 5,000 buildings may have been damaged in the hurricane that hit the city of Gretna on Wednesday.
At least three deaths have been associated with the storm in Louisiana. A 56-year-old woman in Charles Parish has died after a hurricane hit her home. Louisiana Department of Health said Wednesday.
A boy and his mother were found dead Tuesday after a tornado that destroyed their Keithville home in northwest Louisiana, the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities said the bodies of the mother and son were found hours apart, far from where their once home was located.
A tornado hit Wise County in Texas Officials said it was near Paradise and Decatur on Tuesday. The video showed houses in Decatur with their roofs ripped off and shattered.
Authorities said Tuesday that a tornado damaged homes and barns in Wayne, Oklahoma. No injuries were reported, but homes were flattened or their roofs torn off, according to footage from CNN affiliate KOCO.
Farmerville Police Detective Cade Nolan said at least 20 people were injured when a tornado in the Louisiana town of Farmerville hit Union Parish on Tuesday night and destroyed parts of an apartment complex and a mobile home park.
Speaking to CNN affiliate KNOE-TV, Patsy Andrews said that when she was at home with her children in Farmerville, she heard the “wind rushing like a train” outside.
His son told him not to open the door when he went to investigate. But it’s too late.
“Suddenly the wind was so strong it broke my back door,” Andrews said. “Lights went out and all we could hear were glass popping everywhere.”
Andrews said he and his daughter had hit the ground, and they were walking out into the hallway as the windows around them were broken and water was leaking from the roof. Finally, they crouched in their baths.
“We got in the tub and hugged each other. We kept praying and I kept looking for Jesus,” Andrews said. His family survived the storm but his home remained damaged.
The New Iberia Police Department reported that a hurricane struck New Iberia and several homes were damaged.
Police Captain Leland Laserter said on Facebook that the Iberia Medical Center was “significantly damaged”. CNN requested comment from the medical center.
In Jefferson Parish, Councilor Scott Walker said he saw a rubble road at least a mile long.
“Electric lines were cut, houses were severely damaged, roofs were ripped off,” he said in an online video describing the incident. “Here, on the west side, there is a large area of damage and a long road of destruction.”
And in Arabi, Louisiana, Cindy DeLucca Hernandez thought she could beat the storm as she drove home with her 16-year-old son after school. Then she found herself facing a hurricane.
Hernandez shared a video with CNN showing a hurricane in Arabi kicking debris and cutting power lines.
“We started seeing debris and hit it a few times,” he said. “That’s when I put the car in reverse.”
Hernandez and his son got home safely.
But it was “extremely scary,” Hernandez said. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
