Storms kill at least 19 in 4 states as spate of deadly weather continues

Severe storms killed at least 19 people, injured hundreds and left a wide trail of destruction across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky, destroying homes and destroying a truck stop where dozens sought shelter in a bathroom during the latest deadly weather to hit the region central USA.

The storms inflicted their worst damage on a region stretching from north of Dallas to the northwest corner of Arkansas, and the system threatened to bring more violent weather to other parts of the Midwest. On Monday, forecasters said, the greatest risk would shift eastward, covering a wide swath of the country, from Alabama to near New York City.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Monday morning in a post on social media platform X, citing “multiple reports of wind damage and tornadoes.”

Falling trees killed at least two people in Kentucky, authorities said. One death was confirmed in Mercer County Monday morning — one person was pronounced dead inside and a second person was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The second such death was reported in Louisville, where a man was killed Sunday, police said. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenburg confirmed on social media that it was a storm-related death.

Seven deaths were reported in Valley View in Cooke County, Texas, near the Oklahoma border, where a Saturday night tornado touched down in a rural area near a mobile home park, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in an interview. press conference on Sunday. The dead included two children, ages 2 and 5, and three family members were found dead in a home, according to the county sheriff.

The storms also killed two people and destroyed homes in Oklahoma, where the injured included guests at an outdoor wedding, and eight people in Arkansas.

Tens of thousands of residents were left without power across the region.

In Texas, about 100 people were injured and more than 200 homes and structures were destroyed, Abbott said, sitting in front of a devastated truck stop near Valley View, a small farming community. The area was one of the hardest hit, with winds reaching around 215 km/h, officials said.

“The hopes and dreams of Texas families and small businesses have been literally crushed by storm after storm,” said Abbott, whose state has seen successive bouts of severe weather, including storms that killed eight people. in Houston earlier this month.

Abbot signed an amended severe weather disaster declaration on Sunday to add Denton, Montague, Cooke and Collin to a list of counties already under a disaster declaration triggered by storms and flooding in late April.

Hugo Parra, who lives in Farmers Branch, north of Dallas, said he rode out the storm with 40 to 50 people in the truck stop bathroom. The storm destroyed the building’s roof and walls, destroying metal beams and leaving damaged cars in the parking lot.

“A firefighter came to check on us and said, ‘You’re so lucky,’” Parra said. “The best way to describe it is that the wind tried to blow us out of the bathrooms.”

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

No more deaths were expected and no one was reported missing in Texas, Abbott said, although emergency responders were doing another round of searches as a precaution.

In Pilot Point in the Dallas area, a woman used her keychain to signal SOS after a tornado passed through, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

The newspaper said the tornado flipped Amber Bryan’s trailer, trapping her inside. side. “Thank God, I only have a few bruises, nothing broken,” she told the newspaper. “It all happened so fast. I just said, ‘Lord, wrap your arms around me and my pets and help us get through this.'”

Eight people have died across the state of Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed at a news conference Sunday night. An emergency official said two were attributed to circumstances related to the storm but not directly caused by the weather, including one person who suffered a heart attack and another who was deprived of oxygen due to a loss of electricity.

The deaths included a 26-year-old woman whose body was found outside a destroyed home in Olvey, a small community in Boone County, according to Daniel Bolen of the county’s emergency management office. One person died in Benton County and two more bodies were found in Marion County, authorities said.

In Oklahoma, two people died in Mayes County, east of Tulsa, officials said.

Climate change and historical climate

The destruction continued a grim month of severe and deadly weather in the central region of the country.

Tornadoes in Iowa last week left at least five people dead and dozens of injured.

The deadly tornadoes emerged during a historically bad season for tornadoes, at a time when of Climate Change contributes to the severity of storms around the world. April had the second highest number of tornadoes ever recorded in the country.

Meteorologists and authorities issued urgent warnings to seek cover as storms moved through the region on Saturday night and Sunday. “If you are in the path of this storm, take cover now!” the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma, posted at

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

Residents woke up on Sunday to overturned cars and collapsed garages. Some residents could be seen walking around and assessing the damage. Nearby, neighbors sat on the foundation of a destroyed house.

In Valley View, near the truck stop, storms tore roofs off homes and blew out windows. Clothing, insulation, pieces of plastic and other debris were wrapped around miles of barbed wire fencing around rural pastures.

Kevin Dorantes, 20, was in nearby Carrollton when he heard the tornado was hitting the Valley View neighborhood, where he lived with his father and brother. He called the two and told them to take shelter in the windowless bathroom, where they braved the storm and survived unharmed.

As Dorantes wandered through the neighborhood of downed power lines and devastated homes, he came across a family whose home was reduced to a pile of shattered rubble. Father and son were trapped under the rubble and friends and neighbors rushed to get them out, Dorantes said.

“They were conscious but seriously injured,” Dorantes said.

Inaccessible roads and downed power lines in Oklahoma also prompted officials in the city of Claremore, near Tulsa, to announce on social media that the city was “closed” due to the damage.

The system causing the latest severe weather was expected to move eastward through the rest of the holiday weekend.

O Indianapolis 500 began four hours late after a severe storm hit the area, forcing Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials to evacuate about 125,000 race fans.

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

The risk of severe weather hits North Carolina and Virginia on Monday, forecasters said.