“We have another storm system, very powerful, that will begin entering the state” on Saturday, Kevin Laws, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said at a news conference in the county where 23 people were killed Sunday. “Most of the entire state’s going to be under a significant risk.”
The Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center issued a separate forecast that showed much of the South, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and the Carolinas, in at least some jeopardy over the weekend. Meteorologists, who predicted Sunday’s outbreak with striking precision, are expected to refine their forecast in the coming days.
Laws said there was a possibility that the eastern half of Alabama, which includes the communities that were hit hardest last weekend, would ultimately face “somewhat more of a minimal risk.”
The Weather Service’s early warnings came on the morning that local authorities announced that no one remained missing in the aftermath of Sunday’s outbreak, which spawned a series of tornadoes, including one that traveled for about 70 miles.
“We are now confident that we have accounted for all of the individuals that we had unaccounted for,” said Sheriff Jay Jones of Lee County, where all of the deaths occurred.
The county coroner, Bill Harris, said four people remained in intensive care units Wednesday morning.
President Donald Trump, who approved a federal disaster declaration for Lee County on Tuesday, is expected to visit the region Friday to survey the damage. And Gov. Kay Ivey opened her State of the State address Tuesday night with a tribute to the victims.
Residents said repeatedly this week they had already begun to turn their attention toward rebuilding efforts that are likely to stretch for months, at least.
“We don’t know why it happened,” said Richard Brown Sr., principal of Beauregard High School, where he has worked since 1971. “It’s just part of life. There are always some ups and downs, and you have to take the good with the bad, and the good Lord is in charge.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.