Alma Bryant High School is open and school is in session hours after a powerful storm ripped through coastal Alabama on Wednesday damaging the school’s athletic fields.

The storm system that spawned powerful tornadoes in Texas and Louisiana, appears to have created “minor damage” in Mobile and Baldwin counties. Crews with the National Weather System in Mobile are at the high school, based in Irvington, to assess whether a tornado damaged the school’s athletic fields.

“We had tornadic circulation that moved off the Gulf waters and crossed into the immediate coastal areas,” said Cody Lindsey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile. “We’ll check whether (the damage at Alma Bryant) was tornadic or straight-line winds.”

Rena Philips, the school system’s spokeswoman, said the storm damaged a fence and a scoreboard at the athletic fields. She said the school’s building appears to be undamaged.

“We’re assessing the damage,” she said. “When the principals get there (Wednesday morning), and start looking, they may find something else.”

The system arrived into Southwestern Alabama shortly after 10 p.m. Wind gusts of around 55 mph were recorded in the Mobile area shortly after 1 a.m.

In Baldwin County, the only report of structural damage occurred in Bay Minette. A spokeswoman with the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency said that two houses were damaged after tree limbs fell on top of them. No injuries have been reported.

Minor coastal flooding was reported along the Spanish Fort Causeway. The roadway, often inundated with the waters of Mobile Bay during powerful storms, was open to morning rush hour traffic.

Red warning flags are still up in Gulf Shores and Pensacola Beach, where rough surf is expected to continue through the morning.

“We still have high surf churning up at the beaches and deadly rip current risks,” said Lindsey. “That should dwindle through the day.”

Power outages were reported in Mobile and Baldwin Counties. As of 7:30 a.m., there were slightly more than 470 Baldwin County EMC customers without power, according to the website poweroutage.us.

Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan reported a small number of power outages in her city, including one that occurred after a small tree fell down on Fairland Avenue. Other than that, Sullivan said, “we have not had any reports of damage.”