NEW ORLEANS — Powerful storms with a threat of tornadoes are expected to punch through Louisiana and other parts of the South on Tuesday just as huge parades and costumed revelers are set to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans and other cities.

The alarming forecast will be one of the first big tests for the National Weather Service after hundreds of its forecasters were fired last week under President Donald Trump’s moves to slash the size of the federal government. Ex-employees say the firing of meteorologists who make crucial local forecasts across the country could put lives at risk.

Multiple weather threats loom this week for the U.S., starting with dust storms that brought near-zero visibility to parts of New Mexico and West Texas, prompting the National Weather Service to issue Dust Storm Warnings, the agency said.

A strong weather system this week will bring “a threat of blizzard conditions, high winds, flash flooding, severe weather, dust storms, and critical to extreme fire weather conditions to the nation’s heartland,” the weather service said in an update Monday.

On Tuesday, twisters, damaging wind and hail are possible in the nation’s midsection into Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the federal Storm Prediction Center said.

The bull’s-eye is a zone designated at an enhanced risk of severe weather — an area stretching from east Texas to Alabama that’s home to more than 7 million people. The area under threat includes Baton Rouge and Shreveport in Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and Mobile, Alabama.

The New Orleans area is also bracing for strong storms, though Fat Tuesday’s traditionally raucous annual rite of parades of floats and costumed merrymakers remain scheduled to hit the streets, with some changes still being worked out by authorities and leaders of “krewes,” or social clubs that organize parades.

“We’re going to start off with an earlier start time,” said Elroy James, president of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. “All krewes have been willing to lean in and make whatever adjustments necessary.”

Wind gusts of up to 60 mph are expected Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.

Officials also urged residents to remove all tents and trash after any parade.

Wildfires battled: Lighter winds Monday helped crews in South Carolina and North Carolina battle wildfires that caused evacuations and threatened hundreds of homes over the weekend.

Hundreds of firefighters from across the state managed to keep the massive blaze in Horry County near Myrtle Beach from destroying any homes despite social media videos of orange skies at night and flames engulfing pine trees just yards away.

The fire burned 2.5 square miles. It was the biggest fire in the area since a 2009 wildfire nearby did $42 million in damage and burned down about 75 homes.

In eastern North Carolina, nearly 80 mostly small wildfires were reported in Robeson County. Emergency officials said 15 structures were damaged.

The North Carolina Forest Service reported more than 200 wildfires across the state Monday, although almost all of them were small and not threatening any structures.

A drier-than-normal winter in the Carolinas combined with weekend high winds as a cold front hit without the usual rain, increasing the fire danger.

Driver kills people at parade: A driver rammed a car into a crowd Monday in the southwestern German city of Mannheim, and authorities said two people were killed and 11 others injured, five of them severely.

A 40-year-old German man from the nearby state of Rhineland-Palatinate was detained and in a hospital after being injured, State Interior Minister Thomas Strobl of Baden-Württemberg, where Mannheim is based, told German news agency dpa.

He later told reporters in Mannheim that “as far as the specific motivation of the crime is concerned, we have no indication of an extremist or religious background at the moment. The motivation could rather be based in the person of the perpetrator himself.”

German authorities said the driver shot himself in the mouth when he was arrested and had to undergo medical treatment at a hospital. He could not yet be questioned.

Investigators are looking into the possibility that the driver may suffer from psychological problems.

Cars have been used as deadly weapons in several acts of violence in recent months in Germany.

Wisconsin election review: An audit of the November election won by President Donald Trump in swing-state Wisconsin found that not a single vote was counted incorrectly, altered or missed by tabulating machines.

The audit also found no evidence that any voting machine or software had been hacked or otherwise tampered with. The Wisconsin Elections Commission released audit’s findings last week and is scheduled to discuss them Friday.

Trump defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in Wisconsin by just over 29,000 votes.

In 2020, when Trump lost to Joe Biden by just under 21,000 votes, Trump and his supporters alleged there was widespread fraud in Wisconsin. But two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a conservative law firm’s review and multiple state and federal lawsuits did not support the claims.

Trump and his allies have not made similar accusations about the 2024 election that he won.

Pakistan-Afghan fighting: Pakistani and Afghan forces traded fire overnight at a key northwestern border crossing closed for more than a week over a dispute between the two neighbors, officials said Monday.

Kabul said one Afghan security personnel was killed and another was injured at the Torkham crossing, which has been shut for 11 days due to Pakistan disputing Afghanistan’s construction of a new border post there.