At least 20 dead elsewhere as storm system CSRA approaches

AUGUSTA, Georgia – A series of severe storms in the central and southern United States has left at least 20 people dead and could reach our region Monday afternoon, prompting News 12’s weather team to issue a FIRST ALERT.

The destructive storms claimed lives in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky and occurred just north of a sweltering early-season heat wave that set records from South Texas to Florida.

There is a possibility of strong to severe storms in the CSRA this afternoon and evening due to a cold front and upper atmospheric disturbance moving through the region.

The main concerns are likely to be strong gusts of wind and hail, but an isolated, short tornado cannot be ruled out.

Further west, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency on Monday, saying three people were killed and parts of the state were hit by “multiple reports of storm damage and tornadoes.”

The 20 fatalities caused by the storm system included seven deaths in Cooke County, Texas, from a tornado that swept through a mobile home park on Saturday, and eight deaths across Arkansas, authorities said.

Two people died in Mayes County, Oklahoma, east of Tulsa, authorities said. Among the injured were guests at an outdoor wedding.

The latest community to be left with destroyed homes and no power was the small community of Charleston, Kentucky, which took a direct hit Sunday night. It is next to Dawson Spring, which was devastated by a tornado in late 2021. Beshear’s father, former Governor Steve Beshear, grew up in Dawson Springs.

“It’s a big mess,” said Rob Linton, a Charleston resident and fire chief for Dawson Springs. “Trees are down everywhere. Houses have been moved. Power lines are down. No utilities at all – no water, no power.”

Further east, some rural areas of Hopkins County hit by the 2021 tornado around the community of Barnsley suffered further damage Sunday evening, said county emergency management director Nick Bailey.

“A lot of people were just trying to get their lives back together, and then this,” Bailey said. “Almost the same place, the same houses and everything.”

More than 600,000 homes in the eastern United States were without power Monday morning, including more than 170,000 in Kentucky. Twelve states reported at least 10,000 outages, according to PowerOutage.us.

The region in which the highest severe weather warning is in effect on Monday stretches across a broad strip of the eastern United States, from Alabama to New York.

It was a gloomy month full of tornadoes and severe weather in the central part of the country.

Tornadoes in Iowa left at least five people dead and dozens injured last week. Storms killed eight people in Houston earlier this month. The severe thunderstorms and deadly tornadoes came during a historically bad tornado season, at a time when climate change is contributing to the severity of storms around the world. In April, there were the second highest number of tornadoes on record in the country.

Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, said a persistent pattern of warm, moist air is responsible for the series of tornadoes over the past two months.

This warm, moist air is located on the northern edge of a heat dome and brings temperatures that normally prevail from mid-summer to late May.

The heat index – a combination of air temperature and humidity that indicates how heat feels to the human body – is expected to reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius) in parts of South Texas on Monday.

Miami recorded a record high of 35°C on Sunday.

All rights reserved.