(Reuters) – Storms have torn through parts of the central United States, causing damage and death, and forecasters warned of more severe weather in some states over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
A powerful tornado struck a rural area near the Oklahoma border on Saturday night, killing at least 10 people in North Texas, Cook County Sheriff Ray Sappington told local media. Five people died, including children.
Cook County officials said the storm caused significant damage to homes and businesses in the area and resulted in multiple injuries. Emergency crews were searching the rubble for missing people on Sunday.
Tornadoes also moved into Denton County northwest of Dallas on Saturday night, destroying homes and other property and downing power lines. Officials said “some of the injured” had been taken to local hospitals.
“The number and types of injuries are unknown at this time as the incident remains at the work site,” authorities wrote in a post on the Denton County Facebook (NASDAQ: NASDAQ: ) page.
Hundreds of thousands of customers were without power on Sunday in states including Arkansas, Missouri and Texas, according to poweroutages.us.
In Arkansas, at least one person was killed and several others were injured in Benton County due to what officials called a “violent weather event.”
The storm caused widespread damage and at least two deaths in parts of Oklahoma, where officials activated emergency operations centers to coordinate efforts across the state.
After wreaking havoc on central states, the storm moved eastward on Sunday and was expected to merge into larger thunderstorms, potentially causing more damage across a wide swath of the country including parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. Bad weather.
The National Weather Service warned of damaging winds, large hail and more tornadoes in the affected areas.
The latest round of extreme weather comes just days after a powerful tornado ripped through a rural Iowa town, killing four people, and more tornadoes hit Texas last week.
Meanwhile, the United States is preparing for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season that government forecasters say will begin on June 1.
