Storms slam parts of Florida, Mississippi and elsewhere as cleanup from earlier tornadoes continues

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) — Powerful storms left thousands without electricity Friday in Florida and other Southeastern states, where damaging winds toppled trees onto homes and power lines following days of deadly severe weather that produced tornadoes in Michigan, Tennessee and other states.

The National Weather Service said wind gusts of 114 kilometres per hour, just shy of hurricane force, were recorded in Tallahassee, where images posted on social media showed mangled metal and other debris from damaged buildings littering parts of Florida's capital city.

Damage included bent and twisted fencing at the baseball stadium of Florida State University, where classes were cancelled Friday.

The city of Tallahassee said on the X social media platform that "possible tornadic activity" caused the widespread damage in the city of 200,000 people. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The city said more than 66,000 customers were without electricity and 11 substations suffered damage.

"Restoration will possibly take through the weekend," the announcement said.

Strong thunderstorms also were expected in Alabama near the Florida panhandle, where gusty winds could knock down tree limbs, the weather service said.

More than 280,000 homes and businesses from Mississippi to North Carolina were blacked out late Friday morning, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us. Most those outages were in Florida,
where lights and air conditioning were out for more than 180,000 customers.

In Mississippi's capital city of Jackson, authorities on Friday were asking residents to conserve and boil water as a precaution after a power outage at one of its major water treatment plants. JXN Water, the local water utility, said customers could expect reduced water pressure as workers assessed damage from overnight storms.

"It will take many hours for the system to recover and some places may take longer," Ted Henifin, the water system's manager, said in a statement.

Several tornado warnings and watches were issued by the National Weather Service on Friday morning, but were lifted by midday as the threat shifted to damaging high winds.

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