Nearly 43 million people living in the southern region of the United States were in danger of severe weather including tornadoes; heavy rain, hail, and strong winds as well as sweltering hot temperatures.

The storms struck the Lower Mississippi Valley and central Gulf states on Sunday. The severe weather has been rated as a Level 3 of 5. States that were struck include Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

One person was killed and about two dozen were injured due to the storms overnight in Mississippi. Severe weather swept through the state Sunday night.

A tornado watch was announced Sunday for 4 million people across the south in states that include, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

A storm system spawned a tornado late Sunday in Jasper County, Mississippi that left injured and structural damage in its wake. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said that more than 49,000 utility customers were without power in the central part of the state. The number was among nearly a half million from Texas and Oklahoma to Tennessee that were in the dark.

Severe thunderstorms were expected as well as strong winds gusting at 75 mph or greater.

Overnight on Sunday there were reports of tornadoes across parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and along the Gulf Coast.

As of Sunday, more than 640,000 electric utility customers were without power in the South, including more than 220,000 in Oklahoma, more than 70,000 in Texas, and 98,000 in Louisiana. About 290,800 customers experienced outages in Oklahoma that included Tulsa. Due to the level of destruction, authorities said that the power could not be restored until Monday morning. More than 110,000 power outages were reported in Louisiana and Texas and more than 62,000 outages occurred in Arkansas. More than 53,000 residents of Mississippi were also in the dark.

There were more than 70 storm reports across the Southeast on Sunday, according to the Storm Prediction Center. There were eight tornadoes reported mostly in central Mississippi and hail 2-inches wide or larger in Kerr County, Texas.

It is expected that the severe weather would persist into Monday, with a level 2 of 5 risk of severe weather across parts of the Gulf Coast and the Southeast including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jacksonville, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and Savannah Georgia. Damaging wind, large hail and tornadoes were expected.

A level 1 of 5 marginal risk was expected to extend from central Texas to southern Florida and north to western North Carolina. Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Tampa, Orlando, and Miami, Florida were anticipating large hail and damaging wind gusts.

Heavy rain is expected to move into the Southeast, southern Mid-Atlantic, and Southern Appalachians from Monday into Tuesday morning. There is a chance of flash flooding, especially in the urban areas and for small streams, warned the National Weather Service.

A sizzling heat wave has also affected hundreds of thousands of people in the south. The severe heat is expected to last through Wednesday.

Heat indices may reach 120 degrees in parts of Texas on Monday. Residents of the Lone Star state have been warned to stay inside and stay hydrated because conditions could result in heat exhaustion or other heat-related illnesses. Texas surpassed heat records on Thursday and Friday and more record temperatures are expected.

The National Weather Service reports that 50 million people will be under either a heat advisory or extreme excessive heat warning.

Residents of the southern region of Louisiana are also suffering from sizzling temperatures. Temperatures have reached greater than 120 degrees in some sections. The sweltering temperatures have caused a drain on the Texas electric grid.

It is estimated that 150,000 utility customers are without power in the far northeast counties of Texas due to the heat as well as violet storms.

In the past year, Texas has broken 11 all-time records for power demand. Texas governor Greg Abbott assures that more power has been added to the grid since last summer, when ERCOT officials had to call on Texans to voluntarily limit their energy demand by reducing the use of air conditioners. Abbot promised that the grid would be able to handle the demand. However, the Chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission said that the power grid was at risk for outages if wind turbines were not able to produce enough electricity when it is needed.

The severe temperatures will affect the Texas Gulf Coast, and reach a maximum of about 110 to 114 degrees. Austin could reach between 103 and 106 for daytime highs through midweek. In Houston, highs in the lower 100s are predicted through Tuesday, with a high of 100 degrees expected on Wednesday. Heat indexes as high as 117 degrees is possible.

Dallas will reach temperatures of 100 degrees. The humidity will make it feel like 105 to 110 degrees. Temperatures could climb to 113 to 122 degrees in Brownsville and Dallas.

New Orleans will see temperatures in the mid-to-upper 90s through Tuesday, but heat indexes across southeast Louisiana could reach as much as 114 degrees.

Excessive temperatures are forecasted to last through at least June 25.

About 35 million people stretching from Texas, Louisiana, southern New Mexico, Arizona, and Mississippi are under heat alerts, according to the National Weather Service.

According to poweroutages.us, as of 11:32 eastern time, the states with the worst outages included:

• Oklahoma 207,249
• Texas 86,946
• Louisiana 80,377
• Mississippi 42,115
• Arkansas 29,056
• Alabama 12,393
• Florida 11,237
• Tennessee 10,080

AP Electric & Generators has a wide inventory of generators made by some of the most popular manufacturers in the country.

Visit the company’s website for more information at www.apelectric.com or call 847-516-8882 M-F from 8 to 5 PM Central.