On May 23, 2024, a tornado ripped through Temple, Texas, USA, causing damage to the home of 55-year-old Cindi Watts.
Evan Garcia | Reuters
At least 68 million people were under severe weather warnings on Memorial Day as the storm turned northeast, killing at least 19 people in the central United States and knocking out power to 500,000 homes and businesses.
Severe storms will move through Arkansas and Tennessee into the Ohio Valley and then north to the East Coast through the Carolinas, Pennsylvania and New York. NBC meteorologist Michelle Grossman said in a report early Monday that heavy rain, winds in excess of 60 mph, hail larger than 2 inches in diameter and the possibility of some tornado.
Flash flood warnings were issued for 9 million people, mostly in Tennessee, Kentucky and southern Indiana.
The Jackson County Coroner said that as the severe weather spread to Colorado, a rancher and his 34 cattle were killed by lightning near the town of Lander, 80 miles northwest of Denver. Police said 51-year-old Mike Morgan was feeding cattle on a trailer when lightning struck in an open pasture. The remaining 100 cattle were unharmed.
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 26: Spectators take shelter from the rain near Gasoline Alley at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the start of the 108th annual Indianapolis 500 on May 26, 2024 in Indianapolis. (Photo by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Sports Line Pictured | Sports Line Pictured | Getty Images
The PowerOutage.us website, which tracks energy connections, said that as of 5:30 a.m., more than 500,000 customers were without power in the affected areas, including 200,000 customers in Kentucky, accounting for nearly 10% of the state’s 2.3 million total power connections. The website said there were more than 72,000 outages in both Missouri and West Virginia.
Kentucky State Police said some emergency phone lines were damaged and out of service, according to NBC affiliate WNKY in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Monday’s weather warning comes after a hot night across southern states and the Great Plains. Eight deaths were reported in Arkansas; seven in Texas; two in Oklahoma and two in Kentucky. The deaths were caused by weather-related events, including falling trees.
Tornadoes have swept across the region – images from Valley View, Texas, about 55 miles north of Fort Worth, showed destroyed homes and vehicles. Weather watchers posted photos from Missouri and Kentucky showing large, ominous funnel clouds and hailstones the size of golf balls.
The National Weather Service will send at least two teams to Kentucky to survey the damage, a process it says will take several days. At least five states have declared states of emergency in parts of Kentucky and Arkansas.
Extreme heat warnings were issued for southern and central Texas as a cold front moved north, with temperatures likely to rise above 100 degrees on Monday and potentially break daily records.
The National Weather Service said in its forecast that the Lone Star State’s heat index, a measure of how hot it feels, could reach a potentially dangerous 120 degrees. Key West, Florida and surrounding areas are expected to experience similarly hot weather.
The Associated Press contributed.
