NEW ORLEANS — A destructive storm ripping across the U.S. spawned tornadoes that killed a young boy and his mother in Louisiana and threatened the South with more severe weather Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the huge storm system delivered blizzard-like conditions to the Great Plains and was expected to push more snow and ice into Appalachia and New England. The wintery blast dumped more than 2 feet of snow in parts of South Dakota.
In northern Louisiana, it took hours for authorities to find the bodies of a mother and child reported missing after a tornado struck the rural Keithville community near Shreveport on Tuesday afternoon.
The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office said the body of 8-year-old Nikolus Little was found around 11 p.m. Tuesday in a wooded area. His mother, Yoshiko A. Smith, 30, was found dead under storm debris around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Sheriff Steve Prator said their home was destroyed and the boy ended up a half-mile away, while his mother’s body was discovered one street over from where their house stood. He said the child’s father reported them missing.
“We couldn’t even find the house that he was describing with the address. Everything was gone,” Prator told Shreveport TV station KSLA.
In Farmerville, Louisiana, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) to the east of Keithville, about 20 people were taken to a hospital, some with critical injuries, after a tornado caused major damage to mobile homes and an apartment complex, the Union Parish Sheriff’s Office told Monroe TV station KNOE.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Wednesday morning, saying initial reports indicated six possible tornadoes had hit the state in Caddo, Union, Rapides, Madison, East Carroll and Franklin parishes.
“I am heartbroken to learn of the mother and child who were killed in Southwest Caddo Parish due to one of numerous reported tornadoes,” Edwards said in a news release.
The forecast Wednesday called for more severe storms with a moderate threat of additional tornadoes across an area of the Gulf Coast region populated by nearly 3 million people from New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama. More damaging weather was possible in the Florida panhandle.
Tornado warnings were issued Wednesday morning for parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, where mobile homes at a park in Sharkey County were reduced to piles of shredded debris. Resident Leslie Jackson told WLBT-TV her home at the Mason Trailer Park was one of only a couple left standing.
A line of thunderstorms sweeping through Texas spawned tornadoes Tuesday and damaged dozens of homes and businesses. At least five people were injured In the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, police spokesperson Amanda McNew said.
A possible tornado blew the roof off the city’s municipal service center and left pieces of the roof hanging from powerlines, said Trent Kelley, deputy director of Grapevine Parks and Recreation. It was also trash day, so the storm picked up and scattered garbage all over, he said.
Icy weather from the huge storm was expected to affect the U.S. from coast to coast. It began by dumping heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada and was predicted to bring ice and snow to the eastern U.S. in the coming days.
“This system is notable for the fact that it’s going impact areas all the way from California to eventually the Northeast,” said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
In the Black Hills of western South Dakota, snow piled up to nearly 2 feet (61 centimeters) in some mountainous communities.
“They shovel for hours on end,” said Vicki Weekly, who manages a historic hotel in the tourist and gambling city of Deadwood, where a few visitors were still venturing out to hit the casinos.
Interstate 90, spanning the western half of South Dakota, remained closed Wednesday and the state Department of Transportation warned drivers to stay off highways in most of the state. In North Dakota, accumulated snow caused authorities Tuesday evening to shut down Interstate 94 between Bismarck and Fargo, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
Wet, heavy snow left tree limbs sagging and made driving treacherous in northern Minnesota on Wednesday, and a blizzard warning was issued for the North Shore of Lake Superior. Weather Service meteorologist Ketzel Levens in Duluth said snow had reached 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) in some parts of the region.
“Travel is difficult and dangerous and in some locations it might become impossible,” Levens said.
Forecasters expect the storm system to hobble the upper Midwest with ice, rain and snow for days, as well as move into the Northeast and central Appalachians. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch from Wednesday night through Friday afternoon, depending on the timing of the storm. Residents from West Virginia to Vermont were told to watch for a possible significant mix of snow, ice and sleet.
