Powerful storms killed at least 19 people, injured hundreds and left a wide trail of destruction across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky, sweeping away homes and destroying a truck stop where dozens of people sought shelter in a restroom during the latest deadly weather that hit the central US.
The storms inflicted their greatest damage on a region stretching from northern 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 to the east, covering a broad swath of the country from Alabama to near New York City.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency early Monday 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 early Monday in Mercer County: 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 border with Oklahoma, where a tornado ripped through a rural area near a mobile home park on Saturday evening, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a news conference on Sunday. The dead included two children, ages 2 and 5, and three family members were found dead in one home, according to the sheriff.
Julio Cortez / AP
Storms also killed two people and destroyed homes in Oklahoma, where guests at an outdoor wedding were among the injured, and eight people in Arkansas.
Tens of thousands of residents were without power throughout the region.
In Texas, about 100 people were injured and more than 200 homes and structures were destroyed, Abbott said, as he sat outside a destroyed truck stop near Valley View, a small farming community. The area was one of the hardest hit, with wind speeds estimated to have reached 130 miles per hour, officials said.
“The hopes and dreams of Texas families and small businesses have literally been crushed by storm after storm,” said Abbott, whose state has seen back-to-back bouts of severe weather, including storms that killed eight people. in Houston earlier this month.
Julio Cortez / AP
Abbot signed an amended severe weather disaster declaration on Sunday, adding Denton, Montague, Cooke and Collin to a list of counties already under a disaster declaration due to 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 ripped the building’s roof and walls, mangled metal beams and left battered cars in the parking lot.
“A firefighter came to check on us and said, ‘You’re very lucky,’” Parra said. “The best way to describe this is the wind tried to rip us out of the bathrooms.”
Several people were transported by ambulance and helicopter to hospitals 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 conducted another round of searches just to be sure.
In Pilot Point, in the Dallas area, a woman used her key fob to signal SOS after a tornado ripped through, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
The newspaper said the tornado flipped Amber Bryan’s RV, trapping her inside. side. “Thank God I only got some bruises and nothing broken,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “Everything happened so quickly. I just said, ‘Lord, put your arms around me and my pets and help us get through this.'”
Julio Cortez / AP
Others told CBS Texas how they survived being hit by a funnel roared through an RV park near a marina.
Eight people died statewide in Arkansas, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed at a news conference Sunday evening. A
The emergency official said two were attributed to conditions 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, officials said.
In Oklahoma, two people died in Mayes County, east of Tulsa, officials said.
Climate change and weather that makes history
The devastation continued a grim month of deadly severe weather in the center of the country.
Tornadoes in Iowa last week left at least five people dead and dozens injured.
The deadly tornadoes originated during a historically bad season for tornadoes, at a time when climate change contributes to the severity of storms around the world. April had the second highest number of tornadoes in the country on record.
Meteorologists and authorities issued urgent warnings to take cover as the storms marched through the region late Saturday and Sunday. “If you are in the path of this storm, take cover now!” the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma, posted on X.
Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, said a persistent pattern of warm, moist air is to blame for the string of tornadoes over the past two months.
Residents woke up on Sunday to overturned cars and collapsed garages. Some residents could be seen pacing and assessing the damage. Nearby, neighbors sat on the foundation of a destroyed house.
In Valley View, near the truck stop, the storms tore the roofs off homes and blew out windows. Clothing, insulation, bits of plastic and other debris were wrapped around miles of barbed wire around rural pasturelands.
Kevin Dorantes, 20, was in nearby Carrollton when he heard the tornado hit the Valley View neighborhood, where he lived with his father and brother. He called them both and told them to take cover in the windowless bathroom, where they rode out the storm and survived unscathed.
As Dorantes wandered the neighborhood of downed power lines and destroyed homes, he came across a family whose home had been reduced to a pile of splintered rubble. A 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 being “shut down” due to the damage.
The system that caused the latest severe weather was expected to move east through the remainder of the holiday weekend.
The Indianapolis 500 started four hours late after a strong storm moved into 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 will move to North Carolina and Virginia on Monday, forecasters said.
