UPDATE 5:50: A Tornado Warning has been issued until 6:15 p.m. for parts of northeast Fayette County and northwest Hardeman County. This includes Somerville and Whiteville.
UPDATE 4:55: TORNADO WARNING IN SOUTHEAST SHELBY COUNTY and northern parts of DeSoto County until 5:30 p.m. The area includes Germantown, Collierville and parts of Memphis.
Also, Tornado Warning for area from Senatobia, MS to Byhalia, MS until 5:15.
UPDATE 4:05: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for the Greater Memphis area, including Bartlett, Germantown, Collierville, West Memphis, Walls, Southaven and Olive Branch until 4:45. The area extends south to Como, MS. The National Weather Service said wind gusts could reach 70 mph.
UPDATE: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is in effect for parts of NW Tennessee, including Ripley, Dyersburg and Obion, until 4:45.
UPDATE 3:45: A Tornado Warning was issued until 4:30 for an area of eastern Arkansas and NW Mississippi, including Helena and Robinsonville. See map below.
UPDATE: At 3 p.m., a Tornado Warning went into effect for parts of NE Arkansas including Dyess, Bassett, Osceola and Luxora. This Warning will last until 4:30
UPDATE: A Tornado Watch has been issued for ALL of the Mid-South including Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri until 8 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Tim Simpson says the News Channel 3 viewing area can expect to see the storms beginning around 2 p.m., with the worst around 3:30. By 8 p.m. it should be moving east out of the area.
In the event of a tornado, the safe rooms at the Marion Visual Performing Arts magnet school located at 1402 Crestmere St. in West Memphis, and ASU Mid South located at 2000 W. Broadway in West Memphis are on alert and will be available if needed.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A line of strong storms associated with our latest cold front will rumble across the region Wednesday afternoon, leaving behind cooler weather for the rest of the week.
Wednesday, expect a moderate risk of severe weather in the form of high winds and heavy rain.
It should move through the area sometime between noon and 6 p.m., so you might want to change your Wednesday plans, WREG’s Todd Demers said.
A Wind Advisory is coming for the Mid-South, as winds could be gusting to 30-50 mph, Demers said. Rain totals of between 1-2 inches are expected.
The good news — it moves out fairly quickly.
The City of Memphis said it is prepared for the potential effects of high wind and heavy rains expected Wednesday.
“Crews are inspecting and clearing storm drains, inlets and checking other essential areas to help minimize the potential for street flooding,” a release from the city stated.
However, many still have bad memories after last month’s Winter storm that knocked out power to thousands. MLGW has 438,000, and almost 233,000 lost power.
The utility says lessons were learned such as quickly sending out troubleshooters to assess the damage, bringing in more than 100 crews and responding to customers. MLGW’s Gale Jones Carson said they have to find ways to keep their customers informed.
“What we have learned is that we must find ways, no matter how large that storm is, to get information to our customers about the restoration process and when their homes will be restored,” Carson said.
Carson also said the customers should be prepared at home for such weather incidents.
“Have an emergency kit prepared for long term outages such as bottled water, canned and packaged food that don’t require heating to prepare, batteries, flashlights and generators,” she said.
MLGW also tells customers to visit mlgw.com or call (901)-544-6500 to report an outage, or check the online outage map.