Officials assessed the damage on Sunday after a powerful storm system swept across the southern United States over the weekend, spawning tornadoes and killing at least four people.

Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, said there were at least 45 reports of tornado damage in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Crews will conduct damage assessments to confirm tornadoes.

Storms during peak holiday travel caused dangerous road conditions, as well as delays or cancellations at some of the busiest airports in the United States. FlightAware reported over 600 flight delays at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as of Sunday afternoon.

“It’s not unheard of, but it’s fairly uncommon to have a severe weather outbreak of this magnitude this late in the year,” said Frank Pereira, a Weather Prediction Center meteorologist.

National Weather Service storm survey crews confirmed that at least five tornadoes struck north and south of Houston on Saturday.

At least one person died. The 48-year-old woman was discovered about 100 feet (30 meters) from her home in Liverpool, south of Houston, according to Madison Polston of the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office. According to her, the exact cause of death is unknown at this time.

According to Polston, four other people in Brazoria County sustained non-critical injuries, and at least 40 homes and buildings were significantly damaged.

Montgomery County, north of Houston, lost about 30 homes and suffered significant damage to another 50, according to county official Jason Smith.

A 70-year-old man was killed Sunday in Statesville, just north of Charlotte, when a tree fell on his pickup truck. Highway Patrol Trooper DJ Maffucci stated that “it was just a freak accident” and that Matthew Teeple of Cleveland, North Carolina, was killed instantly.

“It’s very sad, just terrible timing,” Maffucci said, noting that the storms caused a number of downed trees and “quite a few wrecks.”

Storms in Mississippi killed two individuals, according to officials. According to Emergency Management spokesperson Neifa Hardy, an 18-year-old died after a tree collapsed on her home in Natchez, Adams County, on Saturday night. Two additional people in the house were hurt.

Another person died in Lowndes County, and at least eight others were injured across the state, according to officials.

According to the National Weather Service, two tornadoes struck Bude and Brandon, shredding roofs from multiple structures. Storm damage was also reported in Athens, Alabama, which is located northwest of Huntsville.

According to Holly Hollman, a city spokesperson, the majority of the damage caused by the early Sunday morning storms happened downtown. She claimed it threw enormous HVAC units off the tops of buildings and ripped the roof off a bookstore. A full-sized, stripped-down military chopper was thrown off a pole where it was on display, she said.

“I stepped out on my porch and could hear it roar,” she remarked about the storm. “I think we are really fortunate that we were hit late at night. If it had struck at peak hours, I believe we would have had several casualties and possibly some fatalities.”

According to the electric utility tracking website PowerOutage.us, over 40,000 individuals in Mississippi remained without power as of Sunday afternoon. According to reports, approximately 10,000 consumers in Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia were without power.

The storms stopped some highways in western North Carolina, which was mostly damaged by Hurricane Helene earlier fall. This includes a portion of U.S. 441, often known as the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway, which was closed north of Bryson City due to severe winds.

In Bumpus Cove, Tennessee, Justin Fromkin, president of Raising Hope Disaster Relief, worked Sunday to salvage what he could from the organization’s supply tent, which was loaded with clothes and food, after nearly 6 inches (152 millimeters) of rain poured.

He’s spent the last few months providing aid to communities of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee that are still recovering from Helene. According to Fromkin, the ground in some areas of the Alps remains unstable as a result of Helene, and Sunday’s downpour exacerbates the situation.

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