Deadliest tornado outbreak in 6 years: Stunned residents begin cleanup in the South, East

Stunned residents across the South and East continued to pick up the pieces Tuesday after tornadoes and storms cut a ferocious two-day trail of destruction, upending lives for thousands already grappling with a public health crisis. 

The severe weather left at least 34 people dead and thousands of homes and businesses without power. There were more than 60 reports of tornadoes that ripped across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia beginning Easter Sunday night and continuing into the Carolinas on Monday, according to the Weather Channel.

It was the nation's deadliest tornado outbreak in six years, since April 25-28, 2014, when 35 people were killed in the central and southern U.S., the Storm Prediction Center said.

Wary residents flocked to community shelters, donning protective masks and trying to observe social distancing guidelines because of the coronavirus.

"I've been in the military, and I've never seen anything like this," said Richard Chapman of Pickens County, South Carolina, describing the tornado that hit his house early Monday. "It was just destruction that hit that quick. It was almost like a bomb hit. It was ungodly."

The storms Sunday and Monday claimed lives in six states. 

The fierce storm system also triggered flooding and mudslides in mountainous areas and knocked out electricity for nearly 1.3 million customers from Texas to Maine, according to poweroutage.us.

Even in areas not impacted by tornadoes, high winds caused issues. About 50,000 residents in both Connecticut and Massachusetts were without power at the height of the storm. 

Ferocious storms:Tornado outbreak in the South leaves at least 30 dead

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said the storms, which killed 12 in the state, were “as bad or worse than anything we’ve seen in a decade.”

“We are used to tornadoes in Mississippi,” he said. “No one is used to this.”

The strongest twister was an EF-4 tornado that devastated southeastern Mississippi with winds as fast as 170 mph.

Elsewhere, other strong tornadoes included an EF-3 in Tennessee, another EF-3 in South Carolina and an EF-2 in Louisiana, the National Weather Service said. 

Nine people died in South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said, and coroners said eight were killed in Georgia. Tennessee officials said three people were killed in and around Chattanooga, and others died under falling trees or inside collapsed buildings in Arkansas and North Carolina.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said some storm victims already were out of work because of shutdowns caused by COVID-19. “Now they have lost literally everything they own,” he said.

Dazed residents tried to comprehend the toll.

“We’re living. The Lord stood by us,” said Jack Clark, 62, whose Soso, Mississippi, home was severely damaged in the storm. “I’ve had cancer twice and if that don’t get your attention ... These are material things. They can be replaced."

"Shook up and in shock': Mississippians dig out after deadliest tornado outbreak in decade

Jalissa Mikell, who lives near Bassfield, Mississippi, with her family, was sitting outside her home as the tornado approached.

"We ran into the house and everybody took shelter," she said. "Everybody was in the hallway and closets. It really sounded like an explosion. The front door was the first thing to fall off and the windows all busted. Then the insulation started attacking us. It was all in my mouth and nose."

She said the tornado crushed most of the home, though Mikell and her family emerged largely unharmed. "I was hollering," she said, adding that as they emerged from the rubble, "everybody was shook up and in shock." 

Among the 12 dead in Mississippi were Lawrence County sheriff's deputy Robert Ainsworth and his wife, Paula, a clerk with the Walthall County Justice Court.

"Robert left this world a hero, as he shielded Mrs. Paula during the tornado," the sheriff's office wrote on Facebook, adding Ainsworth had served in the U.S. Marines. "He was a very valuable employee and will be greatly missed."

In Seneca, South Carolina, where savage winds took off the roof of her apartment, Vaneshia Wilson said “things were already hard with the lockdown, now we ain’t got nowhere to go. All our stuff is gone.” Wilson and her son lost all of their belongings.

“I don’t even have the words ... it’s that unbelievable,” she said.

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Calmer weather was forecast across much of the country Wednesday; there was only a "marginal" chance of severe storms in a small area in the South. 

As cleanup continues in the hardest-hit areas of the South, "a few strong or marginally severe thunderstorms capable of gusty winds will be possible over far southeast Georgia and over parts of Florida Wednesday," the Storm Prediction Center said.

More than 250,000 people were still without power Tuesday afternoon across the South, including over 98,000 in Arkansas, according to poweroutage.us.

Contributing: Luke Ramseth, The Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Miss.); Conor Hughes and Zoe Nicholson, the Greenville (S.C.) News; the Associated Press