Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – Tornado thunderstorms sweeping through the Southern Plains and Ozark Mountains have killed at least 21 people and destroyed hundreds of buildings in four U.S. states as of Monday afternoon, with forecasters warning of more severe weather to come.
The death toll over the three days of Memorial Day weekend included at least eight in Arkansas, seven in Texas, four in Kentucky and two in Oklahoma, according to state emergency department statistics.
The National Weather Service said severe thunderstorm warnings were in effect for parts of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania through Monday night. The warning is in effect for more than 30 million people in the Northeast as the storm is expected to move to that area on the East Coast.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency earlier Monday. The weather service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Atlanta area, other parts of Georgia and several counties in western South Carolina until at least Monday afternoon.
“This is a tough night for our people,” Beshear said in a post on social media platform X on Monday. He later told a news conference that the devastating storm hit nearly the entire state. Officials said the storm damaged 100 state roads and highways.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said a powerful tornado struck a northern Texas community near the Oklahoma border on Saturday night, killing at least seven people, including a 2-year-old and a A 5-year-old child and nearly 100 people injured.
Late Sunday, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at least eight people had died in the state following the storm. An Arkansan with COPD died from a lack of oxygen during a power outage.
The White House said President Joe Biden expressed condolences for the lives lost during a Monday call with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Gov. Abbott and Sanders.
The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was conducting damage assessments with state and local counterparts, adding that Biden had directed federal agencies to provide support as needed.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans were without power Monday due to the weather, according to the PowerOutage.US tracking website. In Kentucky alone, more than 160,000 customers are without power.
Kentucky Governor Beshear said at a press conference that it could take days to restore power in some areas.
The weather service warned that more storms would move through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, bringing damaging winds, large hail and more tornadoes, as well as heavy rain that could trigger flash flooding.
The latest extreme weather comes just days after a powerful tornado ripped through a small town in Iowa, killing four people, and more tornadoes hit Texas last week.
The United States is preparing for what government forecasters say could be an “extraordinary” 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins next Saturday.
