At least 15 people have died, including two children, in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky after violent storms ripped through the region, spawning tornados and leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without power during potentially record-breaking heat.
In Texas, multiple tornados were reported throughout the state with one plowing through Cooke County – approximately 50 miles north of Dallas – leaving seven people dead.
“It’s just a trail of debris left. The devastation is pretty severe,” Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told the Associated Press.
Approximately 60 to 80 people were injured at an AP Travel Stop and Shell station alongside I-35 after it collapsed, where dozens were sheltering. Those injuries are considered non-life threatening.
The sheriff confirmed that a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old were among those killed in Cooke County. The victims also included three family members who were found in a home near Valley View – a rural community close to the Oklahoma border.
Damaging winds, thunderstorms and two-inch hail pounded areas of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky leaving thousands of residents without power.
At least five people died in Arkansas as a result of the storm – one person in Benton County, local authorities said in a press conference on Sunday, two people in Marion County, the sheriff’s department said, one person in Baxter County, the sheriff’s department said, and a 26-year-old woman who was found outside a home in Boone County, according to AP.
In Oklahoma, at least two people were killed in Mayes County after a tornado with an EF2 ripped through the northeast part of the state.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said that one person died in Louisville as a result of the storm.
More severe weather is expected to hit the region throughout Sunday and move eastern through Memorial Day. On Saturday, the National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings for parts of the region, advising people to seek shelter as a low-pressure system collided with extreme heat.
As daylight broke on Sunday, residents across the states woke up to downed power lines, destroyed businesses and homes, trees toppled over and more. Search and rescue missions are currently underway.
More than 300,000 residents in Texas, Arkansas and Kentucky were without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
The NWS Weather Prediction Center warned that the severe storms were shifting east and could bring heavy rain, thunderstorms or hail to parts of the Mid-Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee valleys on Monday.
Storms currently over the central Plains and Ohio Valley are expected “to grow upscale and merge into a larger complex”, according to the weather warnings, while expanding through parts of Missouri, Illinois, western Kentucky and other neighboring states.
Meanwhile, dangerous and “potentially record-breaking” heat continued to beat down on parts of Texas, the Western Gulf and southern Florida.
