A metal shop building is damaged after a severe storm passed the area in Johnson County near Burleson, Texas, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (Elias Valverde II /The Dallas Morning News via AP) 
Brittaney Deaton, 17, right, surveys her belongings and recreational vehicle after a severe storm passed in Johnson County near Burleson, Texas, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (Elias Valverde II /The Dallas Morning News via AP) 
Brittaney Deaton, 17, left, comforts her mother Amber Zeleny, 53, while speaking with reporters after a severe storm passed in Johnson County near Burleson, Texas, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. The latest round of storms to pound the South prompted a flurry of tornado warnings at the start of what forecasters said could be two days of violent weather in the region. More than 55,000 homes and businesses were without power Tuesday morning from eastern Texas to southern Mississippi after storms. (Elias Valverde II /The Dallas Morning News via AP) 
A home in the Whynot Community in Lauderdale County, Miss. was damaged after trees fell on it during a storm on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (Bill Graham/The Meridian Star via AP) 
A crew with East Mississippi Power Electric Association works to restore power to a home in the Whynot Community in Lauderdale County, Miss. following a storm on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (Bill Graham/The Meridian Star via AP) 
Water rushes through an overflowing storm drain near Highway 49 at North 26th Avenue and Seventh Street in Hattiesburg, Miss., after heavy storms ripped across the state leaving reports of localized flooding, downed trees, and tornadoes throughout the state on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (Dominic Gwinn/Hattiesburg American via AP) 
Two men on bicycles wait for a train to pass through downtown Hattiesburg, Miss. during a lull in heavy thunderstorms that moved through the state early in the morning of Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (Dominic Gwinn/Hattiesburg American via AP) 
Water from Gordons Creek rushes under the Bay Street bridge in downtown Hattiesburg, Miss., following heavy storms, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (Dominic Gwinn/Hattiesburg American via AP) 
Heavy storms Tuesday, April 5, 2022, morning left a large section of Rebecca Avenue under water by the Walthall Community Room in downtown Hattiesburg, Miss. The community center was fine, said Rob Mulholland, president of the Walthall Owners Association. “I’ve never seen it that bad,” he said. (Dominic Gwinn/Hattiesburg American via AP) 
The Bryan County Courthouse was damaged, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, after a storm passed through the city of Pembroke, Ga., 30 miles from Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine) 
The Bryan County Courthouse was damaged and trees broken in half, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, after a storm passed through the city of Pembroke, Ga., 30 miles from Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine) 
A power pole ripped from its location lies on East College street in Pembroke, Ga., after a storm damaged several homes and the Bryan County Courthouse, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. Pembroke is 30 miles from Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine) 
Damage is seen at a house on South Main Street in Pembroke, Ga., 30 miles from Savannah, after a storm passed through the city, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Lewis Levine)
PEMBROKE, Ga. | Southerners were clearing trees from roads and buildings as weather forecasters planned to survey damage from several possible tornadoes in Georgia and South Carolina, but said that effort could be interrupted by the potential for more storms Wednesday.
Tuesday’s storms killed at least two people — one in Texas and another in Georgia — and left thousands of people without power across the South.
More than 7,000 customers in Texas and more than 5,000 in Georgia remained without power early Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.
In Bryan County, Georgia, just west of Savannah, a state of emergency was declared and a curfew was in effect through early Wednesday morning to prevent trespassing in tornado-damaged areas near the communities of Pembroke and Ellabell.
A woman died Tuesday evening in Bryan County, where a suspected tornado ripped part of the roof from the Bryan County courthouse, destroyed the entrance to a local government building across the street and damaged homes in nearby neighborhoods, said Matthew Kent, a county government spokesperson. Several other people were injured in the county, he said.
In east Texas, W. M. Soloman, 71, died when storm winds toppled a tree onto his home in Whitehouse, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Dallas, Whitehouse Mayor James Wansley said.
As the storms moved into South Carolina late Tuesday, debate was delayed for nearly an hour in the South Carolina legislature after the state House chamber was evacuated for a tornado warning for Columbia. The legislation being debated would require athletes to compete with the gender listed on their birth certificates.
In Alabama, the weather service said it was sending survey teams to examine potential tornado damage in the Wetumpka area. Lightning struck a flea market in the northern Alabama community of Lacey’s Spring, causing a fire that gutted the building, news outlets reported.
In Mississippi, fallen trees and limbs closed a stretch of highway for hours in Newton County.
Several tornadoes are expected across a large part of the South on Wednesday, the national Storm Prediction Center said.
“The atmosphere will be primed again for more severe storms as we go through Wednesday,” said Jared Guyer, a forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
Parts of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee will be at greatest risk of severe weather. That area of heightened risk includes several large cities, including Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; and Knoxville, Tennessee.
