NEW ORLEANS, March 5, (AP): Powerful storms killed two people in Mississippi, tore the roofs off an apartment building and a nursing home in a small town in Oklahoma and threatened more communities across the nation Tuesday with wide-ranging weather. The large storm system also brought blinding dust storms to the Southwest, blizzards with whiteout conditions to the Midwest and fears of wildfires elsewhere.

In Irving, Texas, a tornado with winds up to 110 mph (177 kph) struck, while another touched down in the 16,000-resident city of Ada, Oklahoma, according to preliminary information from the National Weather Service. There were also two tornadoes in Louisiana’s northern Caddo Parish and at least five in eastern Oklahoma.

High winds forced some changes to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which moved up and shortened the two biggest parades to wrap them up before the bad weather moved in. The weather didn't stop Shalaska Jones and her 2-year-old daughter from waving at passing Mardi Gras floats and hoping to catch one of the coveted coconuts thrown to the crowd. "We was coming out, rain, sleet or snow,” Jones said.

The alarming weather could be one of the first big tests for the National Weather Service after hundreds of forecasters were fired last week as part of President Donald Trump's moves to slash the size of the federal government. Former employees said the firing of meteorologists who make crucial local forecasts nationwide could put lives at risk, though it was too soon to know the impact on forecasts and warnings for this storm.

Two people died due to the severe weather, Gov. Tate Reeves posted on the social platform X, without going into detail. WAPT-TV reported that one person died from a falling power line in Madison County, while a driver in the same county was killed by a tree falling on his car. Storms that swept through Texas and Oklahoma brought high winds and rain, overturning tractor-trailers and damaging roofs.

More than 178,000 customers were without power in Texas, about 23,000 in Louisiana, another 18,000 in Mississippi, about 88,000 in Alabama, more than 16,000 in Oklahoma and more than 23,000 in Tennessee, according to PowerOutage.us. More outages were expected as a line of storms raced across Mississippi and Louisiana and headed for Alabama, producing gusts of 70 mph (113 kph), the weather service said.