The powerful storms killed at least 19 people, injured hundreds and left a wide trail of destruction in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky, destroying homes and destroying a truck stop where dozens sought shelter in a toilet during the last deadly time to hit central usa.
The storms inflicted their worst damage in a region stretching from north of Dallas to the northwest corner of Arkansas, and the system threatened to bring more violent weather to other parts of the Midwest. On Monday, forecasters said, the biggest risk would move eastward, covering a wide swath of the country from Alabama to near New York City.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency early Monday in a post on social media platform X, citing “several reports of wind and tornado damage.”
Falling trees killed at least two people in Kentucky, authorities said. One death was confirmed in Mercer County early Monday: One person was pronounced dead inside and a second person was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The second death was reported in Louisville, where a man died Sunday, police said. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenburg confirmed on social media that it was a storm-related death.
Seven deaths were reported in Valley View, Cooke County, Texas, near the Oklahoma border, where a tornado ripped through a rural area near a mobile home park Saturday night, the governor of Texas Greg Abbott at a press conference Sunday. Among the dead were two children, ages 2 and 5, and three family members were found dead in a home, according to the county sheriff.
Julio Cortez / AP
The storms also killed two people and destroyed homes in Oklahoma, where the injured included guests at an outdoor wedding, and eight people in Arkansas.
Tens of thousands of residents were without power across the region.
In Texas, about 100 people were injured and more than 200 homes and structures were destroyed, Abbott said, sitting outside a devastated truck stop near Valley View, a small farming community. The area was one of the hardest hit, with winds estimated at 135 mph, officials said.
“The hopes and dreams of Texas families and small businesses have been literally crushed by storm after storm,” said Abbott, whose state has seen a succession of severe weather episodes, including storms that killed eight people. in Houston earlier this month.
Julio Cortez / AP
Abbot signed an amended severe weather disaster declaration Sunday to include Denton, Montague, Cooke and Collin in a list of counties already under a disaster declaration brought on by storms and flooding in late April.
Hugo Parra, who lives in Farmers Branch, north of Dallas, said he rode out the storm with 40 to 50 people in the truck stop bathroom. The storm ripped through the roof and walls of the building, shattering metal beams and leaving battered cars in the parking lot.
“A firefighter came to check on us and said, 'You're very lucky,'” Parra said. “The best way to describe it is that the wind tried to rip us out of the bathrooms.”
Several people were taken to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter in Denton County, also north of Dallas.
No more deaths were expected and no one was reported missing in Texas, Abbott said, although officials were conducting another round of searches just in case.
In Pilot Point, in the Dallas area, a woman used her keychain to signal SOS after a tornado passed through, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
The newspaper said the tornado overturned Amber Bryan's trailer, trapping her inside. side “Thank God I just got a few bruises, nothing broken,” the paper says. “It all happened so fast. I just said, 'Lord, put your arms around me and my pets and get us through this.'”
Julio Cortez / AP
Others told CBS Texas how they survived when a funnel roared through a trailer park at a marina.
Eight people died statewide in Arkansas, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed at a news conference Sunday evening. An
The emergency official said two were attributed to circumstances related to the storm but not directly caused by the weather, including one person who suffered a heart attack and another who was deprived of oxygen due to a loss of electricity.
The dead included a 26-year-old woman whose body was found outside a destroyed home in Olvey, a small community in Boone County, according to Daniel Bolen of the county's office of emergency management. One person died in Benton County and two other bodies were found in Marion County, officials said.
In Oklahoma, two people died in Mayes County, east of Tulsa, officials said.
Climate change and historical time
The destruction continued a grim month of deadly bad weather in the central part of the nation.
Tornadoes in Iowa last week left at least five people dead and dozens of injured.
The deadly tornadoes have appeared during a historically bad season for tornadoes, at a time when climate change contributes to the severity of storms worldwide. April had the second highest number of tornadoes on record in the country.
Meteorologists and authorities issued urgent warnings to seek cover as the storms moved through the region Saturday afternoon and Sunday. “If you are in the path of this storm, take cover now!” the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma, published in X.
Harold Brooks, senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, said a persistent pattern of warm, moist air is to blame for the string of tornadoes over the past two months.
Residents woke up Sunday to overturned cars and collapsed garages. Some residents could be seen walking around and assessing the damage. Nearby, neighbors sat on the foundations of a shattered house.
In Valley View, near the truck stop, storms tore roofs off homes and blew out windows. Clothes, insulation, bits of plastic and other rubbish were wrapped around miles of barbed wire fencing surrounding grazing land in the countryside.
Kevin Dorantes, 20, was in nearby Carrollton when he learned the tornado was touching down in the Valley View neighborhood where he lived with his father and brother. He called them both and told them to take cover in the windowless bathroom, where they rode out the storm and survived unscathed.
As Dorantes wandered through the neighborhood of downed power lines and destroyed homes, he came across a family whose home was reduced to a pile of shattered rubble. A father and son were trapped under the debris and friends and neighbors ran to pull them out, Dorantes said.
“They were conscious but seriously injured,” Dorantes said.
Impassable roads and downed power lines in Oklahoma also prompted officials in the town of Claremore, near Tulsa, to announce on social media that the town was “closed” due to the damage.
The system that brought the latest severe weather was expected to move east through the rest of the holiday weekend.
The Indianapolis 500 started four hours late after a strong storm pushed through the area, forcing Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials to evacuate about 125,000 race fans.
More severe storms were forecast for Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The risk of severe weather moves into North Carolina and Virginia on Monday, forecasters said.
