Tornadoes and storms claim 15 lives in central USA

At least 15 people were killed as tornadoes and storms swept through the central United States, destroying homes and cutting off power to hundreds of thousands.

Seven people were killed in northern Texas, five in Arkansas, two in Oklahoma and one in Kentucky. Dozens more were injured and nearly 500,000 people were without power in several states on Sunday.

Sheriff Ray Sappington of Cook County, Texas, said the fatalities included two children, ages two and five, and three members of the same family.

“All that’s left is a trail of debris,” said the sheriff of Valley View, which was one of the areas hardest hit by a strong tornado. “The devastation is pretty bad.”

Images from the county showed a gas station and rest stop almost completely destroyed, with twisted metal strewn across the damaged vehicles.

Tornadoes overturned trucks, closed a highway near Dallas, and left tens of thousands of people without power across the region.

Meanwhile, lightning, thunder and heavy rain forced the evacuation of around 125,000 spectators as the Indianapolis 500 race was postponed by four hours on Sunday.

Everything gone in two minutes

Frank Soltysiak, who lives in a mobile home park in north Texas, said his home was destroyed within minutes when a storm passed through.

Mr Soltysiak was at a nearby restaurant when the owner drove by and “honked and told everyone to get out,” he told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

He grabbed his dog Sampson and sought shelter in the restaurant’s walk-in cooler.

“This was the safest building you could go into. And I come out and everything is destroyed,” he said.

“Within two minutes it’s gone, everything is gone.”

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said the state’s emergency units have been activated to respond to the tornado.

“Please pray for these families,” he said of those whose loved ones were killed. “Their loss is unfathomable.”

The storms in Texas coincided with record-breaking heat in some parts of the state, with residents receiving triple-digit temperature warnings for Memorial Day weekend.

In Oklahoma, two people were killed and six others injured in Mayes County, the local emergency management agency told the BBC.

Arkansas officials said a 26-year-old woman was found dead outside a destroyed home in Olvey, while another of the state’s four deaths was reported in Benton County. The state also reported several injuries.

Police officials in the city of Rogers, Arkansas, said they rescued several people who were trapped after a tornado downed trees and power lines and damaged gas lines.

In Kentucky, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenburg confirmed on social media that a man was killed by a falling tree during a severe storm on Sunday.

Storms move east

By Sunday afternoon, the storm system had moved east, according to the National Weather Service, which warned of severe storms and hail in the affected areas.

According to the website Poweroutage.us, around 470,000 people were without power in states from Texas to Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.

A spokesman for Sedgwick County, Kansas, which includes Wichita, told CBS News that emergency crews were dealing with fallen trees and power lines downed by a storm and that about 8,000 homes were without power.

The latest tornadoes follow another powerful tornado that swept through a rural Iowa town in early May, killing four people.

Government meteorologists have also described this summer as a potentially “exceptional” 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins next month.