The areas of the southern United States from Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas to Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky are bracing themselves for more potentially damaging and dangerous weather conditions into Thursday night.

A second and more powerful storm this week threatens to bring violent thunderstorms and flooding rain; the first storm of the week brought torrential rain and localized flooding from part of the upper Texas coast to Louisiana and part of Mississippi into Tuesday night.

Lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys were hit with destructive severe weather and tornadoes last week, with 56 reports of tornadoes, 27 incidents of large hail and 79 episodes of damaging wind gusts.