At least 23 dead in severe storms and tornadoes in central USA

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At least 23 people have died in four states after a series of destructive storms and tornadoes swept through the central and southern United States over the Memorial Day weekend.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced in a press conference on Monday that four people had died and one person had been seriously injured across the state as a result of the deadly storms. He said the weather had also caused “massive damage to homes and businesses.”

However, that number rose to five after he added in a social media update that another person, a 54-year-old Caldwell County man, had died of a heart attack while sawing downed trees as a result of the storm.

Other victims of the storm included a 67-year-old woman from Mercer County, a 62-year-old woman from Hardin County, a 48-year-old woman from Hopkins County and a 34-year-old man from Jefferson County, the governor said.

Fatalities were also reported in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, and the storms left a trail of destroyed homes and businesses as well as power outages.

More than 400,000 residents in seven states have been without power since Monday evening. The day before, at least eleven tornadoes were recorded moving through the affected states.

Weather warnings for heavy hail, damaging winds and tornadoes continued to be issued Monday for areas of Central and Eastern America as storm systems move toward the Gulf Coast and East Coast, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center.

The NWS has predicted that severe thunderstorms could again form across Texas on Tuesday, with wind gusts possibly reaching 75 mph or more.

Record temperatures were recorded in Texas on Monday following a heat warning, with areas like Del Rio seeing extreme highs of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), making it the third hottest day on record in the region, the NWS reported.

In other areas of the Lone Star State, record temperatures between 35 and 37 degrees Celsius were measured, and in Florida, Miami also recorded record-breaking 36 degrees Celsius for two days in a row.

The NWS said that sweltering heat is expected in southern Texas and southern Florida over the next few days through Tuesday. Severe thunderstorms will also continue to occur in various areas of Texas, which could bring flash flooding, destructive wind gusts and very large hail.

As deadly thunderstorms approached the East Coast on Monday, a flood warning was issued for New York City on Monday, with rainfall between 0.5 and 1 inch expected for the region, and a severe weather watch was in effect until the evening.

Heavy rain is expected in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland on the east coast through Tuesday morning, weather officials said. There is also the possibility of severe thunderstorms in the east of the country.

The thunderstorms caused travel disruptions at JFK International Airport on Monday, as all flight operations were suspended for over an hour due to the severe weather.

President Joe Biden sent his condolences to the families of those killed in the storms. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was on the ground conducting damage assessments and that he had contacted governors to see what federal assistance they might need.

At least eight people have died so far as a result of the extreme storms in Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a press conference on Sunday evening.

One of the victims suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and died after his oxygen concentrator stopped working due to a power outage. Another victim died of a heart attack, while another died when a tree or branch struck a trailer, they added.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, at least two people were killed in Mayes County when a tornado devastated the northeast of the state.

In Texas, several tornadoes were reported across the state. One ripped through Cooke County – about 50 miles north of Dallas – on Saturday evening, leaving seven people dead.

The sheriff confirmed that a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old were among the dead. The victims also included three other family members who were found in a home near Valley View, a rural community near the Oklahoma border.

“All that’s left is a trail of rubble. The devastation is pretty bad,” said Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington. The Related Press.

About 60 to 80 people also suffered non-life-threatening injuries when an AP Travel Stop and Shell gas station on I-35 collapsed on them after they sought shelter from the storm in the building.

In Texas, more than 200 homes and other buildings were destroyed and more than 100 others were damaged – and that number is expected to rise.

In Colorado, a farmer and 34 of his cows were killed by a lightning strike.

A rare tornado warning, classified as a “particularly dangerous situation” by the Storm Prediction Center, was in effect for parts of Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and western Kentucky on Sunday. Strong winds, thunderstorms and two-inch hail were reported in areas of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky.

According to PowerOutage.us, even the hardest hit states were hit by power outages. In Kentucky alone, over 160,000 households were without power on Monday afternoon, but since Tuesday that number has dropped to just under 82,000.

On Sunday, lightning, thunder and heavy rain forced about 125,000 spectators at the Indianapolis 500 race to evacuate after a four-hour delay.

The National Weather Service said a tornado warning was in effect for areas of Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia and North Carolina until 11 p.m. local time, and that wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour and hailstones the size of ping-pong balls were possible.