Update: As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, approximately 30,000 people are without power across the state, including more than 29,000 Alabama Power customers.Original article:More than 100,000 utility customers in Alabama are without power as devastating storms that caused brush fires and other damage hit the state Tuesday.As of 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, more than 104,000 utility customers didn’t have electricity, according to ...
Update: As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, approximately 30,000 people are without power across the state, including more than 29,000 Alabama Power customers.
Original article:
More than 100,000 utility customers in Alabama are without power as devastating storms that caused brush fires and other damage hit the state Tuesday.
As of 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, more than 104,000 utility customers didn’t have electricity, according to poweroutage.us.
Southwest Alabama, where tornado warnings are in effect until early Wednesday morning, experienced the most outages.
Brush fires caused by downed power lines were reported Tuesday afternoon in central Alabama, hours before the storms.
Gusty winds ahead of the storms knocked down the lines as well as trees along with trees, according to the National Weather Service’s Birmingham office.
“Keep an eye out and call 911 if you see a fire,” NWS Birmingham posted to its X account.
In eastern Alabama, the winds were to blame for a basketball hoop crashing into a car windshield:
In Homewood, a large tree took down power lines and slammed onto the hood of a minivan on Ridge Road by Wellington Road. The street was blocked by the tree’s trunk and the lines:
In Tuscaloosa County, a tree was uprooted:
Forecasters expect a squall line of storms to develop today and track eastward toward Alabama. The could reach Alabama’s western border by 5 p.m., but keep an eye out for changes in timing.
A tornado watch is now in effect for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi -- all the way to the Alabama state line.
Southwest Alabama was expected to be the part of the state hardest hit by the storms.
On Tuesday night, the Spanish Fort Causeway experienced flooding:
Since the storms could affect parts of the state late tonight, the weather service urged Alabamians to ensure they have multiple ways to receive warnings, including ones that will wake them up in the middle of the night.
The line of storms should be moving fast, which can increase the potential for high winds with storms.
Winds will be the main concern with tonight’s storms. However a few tornadoes can’t be ruled out either, according to the weather service.