Communities from Houston to New Orleans opened cooling centres to bring relief as steamy hot temperatures settled across a broad swath of the US South on Saturday, and beachgoers fled a water spout that swept ashore on a Florida beach.
Gov. Greg Abbott meanwhile visited Perryton in the Texas Panhandle, where officials said more than 1,000 customers remained without electricity after a tornado killed three people late Thursday.
Communities from Houston to New Orleans opened cooling centres to bring relief as steamy hot temperatures settled across a broad swath of the US South on Saturday, and beachgoers fled a water spout that swept ashore on a Florida beach.
Gov. Greg Abbott meanwhile visited Perryton in the Texas Panhandle, where officials said more than 1,000 customers remained without electricity after a tornado killed three people late Thursday.
The Perryton Ochiltree Chamber of Commerce said it would open a cooling centre in the town of 8,000 people, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Amarillo, to counteract the effects of the high temperatures that followed the storm.
The National Weather Service issued excessive heat warnings through Saturday night along the Gulf Coast from Brownsville, Texas, to Houston. It said heat indexes ranging from near 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius) in Houston to near 120 F (49 C) at Brownsville and Corpus Christi in Texas. Cooling shelters were set up in cities along the coast and farther inland for residents left without electricity.
바카라What's really going is the humidity,바카라 said Allison Prater, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Fort Worth, Texas.
바카라That's making the heat index, or the feels like' temperature really skyrocket.바카라
Prater said the air temperature on Saturday in the Dallas area could reach 94 F (34 C), but high humidity would make it feel like 105 F (40.5 C).
바카라The reason we're having such heat is there is a lot of moisture being pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico,바카라 Prater said. 바카라That's working with the warmer temperatures to induce 바카라 that feels like' temperature.바카라
Two women and an 11-year-old boy died and as many as 125 people were injured when the tornado slammed into Perryton.
On Saturday, authorities upgraded the intensity of the twister to EF-3, saying it packed winds of up to 140 mph (225 kph).
Ochiltree County Sheriff Terry Bouchard told KVII-TV in Amarillo that missing people had been located.
바카라It dropped down right on top of Perryton,바카라 Bouchard said. "We've lost a lot of homes, businesses, rental properties. There's just a lot of damage to our community and it's going to take some time to get this cleaned up.바카라
Storm-related power outages were also reported in East Texas late Friday, ahead of a weekend promising sweltering days of high temperatures and high humidity.
In Louisiana, the National Weather Service projected daytime temperatures through Monday at about 94 F (34 C) with high humidity and heat index values as high as 112 F (44 C).
The City of New Orleans opened cooling centres and hydration stations and advised residents to take extra precautions if they were spending time outside by wearing lightweight and loose-fitting clothing, taking frequent rest breaks in shaded or air-conditioned environments, and drinking lots of water.
Entergy New Orleans and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans suspended electricity shut-offs for delinquent accounts through Tuesday.
In Florida, city officials in Clearwater said in an email that a waterspout came ashore Friday afternoon 바카라sending beach-related items flying into the air바카라 and injuring two people from Kansas.
Authorities said the 70-year-old woman and 63-year-old man were treated for minor injuries at a local hospital. Their identities were not made public.
The National Weather Service in Miami issued a heat advisory through 7 pm on Saturday for most of the South Florida area, where the combination of heat and humidity was forecast to reach a 바카라feels like바카라 temperature of 105 F (40.5 C).
바카라Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur,바카라 the service reported. The air temperature in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was expected to reach about 92 degrees (33 Celsius) on Saturday.