Parts of Texas and Louisiana were under a tornado watch Thursday night as a line of thunderstorms battered the south-central U.S., threatening the region with large hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott activated state emergency-response resources earlier in the day anticipating the “increased severe weather threat” across the eastern half of the state. The governor’s office warned that severe thunderstorms are forecast in portions of north, central, east and southeast Texas.
“Given sufficient energy and a pronounced change in wind speed and direction with height in the atmosphere, all modes of severe weather are on the table, including hail, flooding, high winds and isolated tornadoes,” Gwen Fieweger, an AccuWeather meteorologist , said in an online forecast.
The round of storms was expected to spread from southeastern Oklahoma to parts of Arkansas and Louisiana, the National Weather Service said. Tornado watches were in place for parts of southeast Texas, as well as west central and southwest Louisiana until 2 a.m. local time Friday.