At least 15 dead after storms in US states

Severe storms have killed at least 15 people in the United States and left a trail of devastation in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

The storms caused the most severe damage in a region stretching from northern Dallas to the northwest corner of Arkansas. As the day progressed, the system threatened to cause more severe weather events in other parts of the Midwest.

Seven deaths were reported in Cooke County, Texas, near the Oklahoma border, where a tornado swept through a rural area near a mobile home park Saturday night, officials said.

Among the dead were two children aged two and five, local authorities said. Three family members were found dead in a house.

In Oklahoma, two people were killed and houses destroyed by the storms. Guests at an outdoor wedding were among those injured. Tens of thousands of residents across the region were without power.

Up to 50 people sought shelter at a rest area near Valley View. The storm ripped off the building’s roof and walls, damaged metal beams and left battered cars in the parking lot.

Several people were taken by ambulance and helicopter to hospitals in Denton County, Texas, also north of Dallas.

At least five people were killed in Arkansas, including a 26-year-old woman who was found dead outside a destroyed home in Olvey, a small community in Boone County, said Daniel Bolen of the county’s emergency management office. Another person died in Benton County, and two more bodies were found in Marion County. In Oklahoma, two people died in Mayes County, east of Tulsa, authorities said.

The destruction continued a grim month of deadly storms in the center of the country.

Tornadoes in Iowa this week killed at least five people and injured dozens. The deadly twisters came during a historically bad tornado season, at a time when climate change is increasing the severity of storms around the world. April saw the second-highest number of tornadoes in the U.S. on record.

Meteorologists and authorities had issued urgent warnings to seek shelter as the storms moved across the region late Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

At daybreak the full extent of the devastation became clear.

In Valley View, near the rest stop, the storms ripped roofs off homes and blew out windows. Clothing, insulation, plastic and other debris were wrapped around the miles of barbed wire fence that surrounds pastureland in the rural area.

The storm caused power outages in hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the path of the storms.

The system that caused the recent storm is expected to move eastward over the remainder of the holiday weekend.

The start of the Indianapolis 500 was delayed as a strong storm moved into the area, forcing Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials to evacuate about 125,000 race fans. Video boards inside the track displayed a severe thunderstorm warning as rain, damaging winds and lightning approached from the west.

More severe storms were forecast in Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky.

Meteorologists expect the threat of severe weather to move to North Carolina and Virginia on Monday.