A ‘Welcome to Whitehouse’ sign was blown off due to high winds Tuesday morning. (Contributed Photo)

More rain and thunderstorms are likely to sweep across East Texas through the rest of the week.

Tyler and East Texas faced high winds and heavy rainfall Tuesday as severe thunderstorms rolled through the region. Tornado and thunderstorm warnings were in effect in East Texas, though they expired by the afternoon. The National Weather Service reported that winds of up to 60 and 70 mph and golf ball-sized hail were possible.

In Smith County, thousands of customers remained without power as of Wednesday morning, roads were blocked by fallen trees and damage was reported to structures. A Starrville church that was being used as a voting location during Tuesday’s primary runoff remained open despite a power outage. The equipment was operated using backup batteries.

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Smith County officials and first responders responded to nearly 300 calls for service since 8:30 a.m. that morning.

The Smith County Emergency Operations Center is in constant communication with multiple emergency support function personnel as well as local jurisdictions within the county, Smith County Emergency Management Coordinator Brandon Moore said.

“We are inundated with calls about downed power lines and felled trees,” he said. “We are working through this process as quickly as possible.”

If you have suffered damages or your power is out and you need to be able to go to a shelter, let the county know by visiting: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R8TWHLM

“We are currently working multiple responses and need to know if shelters are needed, as this would require additional resources,” Moore said.

Please be sure to report all property damages to the Texas Division of Emergency Management by visiting https://tinyurl.com/reportdamagetexas.

Smith County Road and Bridge crews were out all day Tuesday clearing 42 county roads with downed trees. Downed trees were reported on County Roads 14, 191, 192, 1133, 1145, 223, 246, 2151, 2155, 2206, 2212, 2274, 2319, 2326, 35, 354, 381, 42, 49, 419, 422, 426, 431, 434, 438, 447, 448, 452, 477, 479, 482, 484, 489, 492, 4104, 4105, 4108, 4119, 4129, 4132, 4173 and 4229.

CR 452, west of CR 4118, remains closed due to water over the road.

This week’s storms come just days after an EF-1 tornado brought damage to the area May 23 and 24. The tornado reached 4.34 miles, starting in eastern Henderson County and ending in southwestern Smith County. Peak wind speeds were 105 mph, according to the National Weather Service of Shreveport.

The tornado lasted about 4 minutes, touching down near an inlet area of Lake Palestine in Coffee City. It stayed over the water for the most part but touched down across the Lake Palestine Resort, which suffered major damage and will be closed through at least June, management said.

There were no deaths in the tornado, but six injuries were reported.

In other areas of East Texas on Tuesday, more than than 31,000 Southwestern Electric Power Co. customers in East Texas were without power as of Tuesday afternoon. Numerous towns and cities — Longview, Marshall, Kilgore, Gladewater, Gilmer and more — were affected.

The National Weather Service in Shreveport’s forecast shows that chances of thunderstorms range between 50 percent and 70 percent through Friday night. The likelihood of thunderstorms will drop to 40 percent by Saturday. Temperatures will range from the high 60s to the low 80s. Weather is expected to clear by Sunday.

Strong storms with damaging winds and baseball-sized hail pummeled north Texas on Tuesday as much of the U.S. recovered from severe weather, including tornadoes, that killed at least 25 people during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Widespread power outages were reported in the region, which includes Dallas and Fort Worth, where an oppressive, early-season heat wave added to the misery. About 800,000 customers lacked electricity Tuesday, according to PowerOutage.us.

Voters in the state’s runoff elections found some polling places without power. Roughly 100 voting sites in Dallas County were knocked offline. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins declared a disaster area and noted that some nursing homes were using generators. “This ultimately will be a multi-day power outage situation,” Jenkins said Tuesday.

More rough weather and heavy rains were forecast for the Dallas area Tuesday night. Heavy thunderstorms also were plowing toward Houston, where officials warned that winds as strong as 70 mph could cause damage less than two weeks after hurricane-force winds knocked out power to more than 800,000 homes and businesses.

Destructive storms over the weekend caused deaths in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia. Meanwhile in the Midwest, an unusual weather phenomenon called a “gustnado” that looks like a small tornado brought some dramatic moments to a western Michigan lake over the weekend.

Seven people were killed in Cooke County, Texas, from a tornado that tore through a mobile home park Saturday, officials said, and eight deaths were reported across Arkansas.

Two people died in Mayes County, Oklahoma, east of Tulsa, authorities said. The injured included guests at an outdoor wedding. A Missouri man died Sunday after a tree limb fell onto his tent as he was camping.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Monday that five people had died in his state.

A possible tornado damaged a high school and a half-dozen homes in Pennsylvania on Monday night. No injuries were reported, but school was canceled in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, said David Truskowsky, spokesperson for the city’s fire department.

Roughly 160,000 homes and businesses lacked electricity Tuesday following the weekend storms in Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia and Missouri.

The nation’s midsection has faced a grim month of tornadoes and severe weather.

Tornadoes in Iowa last week left at least five people dead and dozens injured. Storms killed eight people in Houston this month. April had the second-highest number of tornadoes on record in the country.

Late May is the peak of tornado season, but the recent storms have been exceptionally violent, producing very strong tornadoes, said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at Northern Illinois University.

“Over the weekend, we’ve had a lot of hot and humid air, a lot of gasoline, a lot of fuel for these storms. And we’ve had a really strong jet stream as well. That jet stream has been aiding in providing the wind shear necessary for these types of tornadoes,” Gensini said.

Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, said a persistent pattern of warm, moist air is to blame for the string of tornadoes over the past two months.

That air is at the northern edge of a heat dome bringing temperatures typically seen at the height of summer to late May.

The heat index — a combination of air temperature and humidity to indicate how the heat feels to the human body — reached triple digits in parts of south Texas and was expected to stay there for several days.