More severe storms move across country

Powerful system targets South, East after spawning Midwest tornadoes

A three-day severe storm system that brought hail, high winds and some tornadoes to the Kansas-Texas corridor moved slowly eastward into the Deep South on Thursday and threatened more violent weather on its way to the Atlantic coast.

The National Weather Service warned of several possible tornadoes and extensive wind damage across the central Gulf Coast states, South and Tennessee Valley – especially in Louisiana and Mississippi. Excessive rain was possible from the central Gulf Coast to the Ohio Valley.

Storms were expected to intensify from Florida through the Mid-Atlantic by Friday afternoon, the weather service said.

Seven tornadoes were reported across the Plains from the northeastern Texas Panhandle to southeastern Kansas.

One twister was reported near Glazier, Texas, late Wednesday afternoon, and the weather service said a second tornado was spotted by radar over Higgins, Texas.

Two semitrailer trucks were blown over on Interstate 35 in north central Oklahoma near the Kansas border, The Weather Channel reported.

Hail as large as 3 inches in diameter was reported late Wednesday in Selman, Oklahoma, and areas of the eastern Texas Panhandle saw hail up to 2 inches. Up to an inch of quarter-sized hail was reported in Goodnight, Texas, according to the weather service.

Strong winds toppled utility poles, trees and power lines, knocking out power to more than 110,000 customers, mostly in East Texas, according to poweroutage.us.

Several thousand more were hit across Missouri and Arkansas, according to AccuWeather.