Large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes may whip up as “strong and severe storms” continue to batter Texas, Oklahoma and parts of Louisiana on Thursday, forecasters said.
Weakening as they work their way through the Dallas and Fort Worth area, the cyclonic storms may refire in the afternoon to dump more rain in the area, according to The Weather Channel.
It will likely mean miserable conditions for those cleaning up from Wednesday’s storm damage, where golf ball-sized hail combined with 70 mph winds slammed parts of western Texas.
About 2,000 people were left without power in northern Louisiana, nearly 100 homes were dark in Mississippi, and 72 were without power in southern Arkansas near El Dorado as of 1 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), utility Entergy reported.
A Delta Air Lines flight headed to Newark from Paris was also diverted to Boston because of the "King Kong-like" turbulence they encountered as it approached Logan International Airport, according to NBC New York. Two people were taken to the hospital.
A woman was also injured when trees came down on her house in Sterlington, Louisiana, according to NBC affiliate KTVE.
There were also reports of a tornado touching down near Roscoe, Texas, and as much as 2 inches of rain fell in the San Antonio region Wednesday, the NWS said.
While the chance of tornadoes is lower for Thursday, according to Michael Palmer, the lead meteorologist at The Weather Channel, the wacky weather is not over.
“Going forward into Friday and Saturday the tornado threat goes up,” he said. “Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and parts of the southern plains will definitely go up. On Saturday the lower Mississippi Valley, Arkansas and other parts of the south east could be affected.”
Elsewhere temperatures were lower than average but the thunderstorms that hammered parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, would subside, he said.