A series of severe storms hit the central and southern United States over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, killing at least 21 more people and leaving a wide trail of destroyed homes and businesses and power outages.
The destructive storms caused deaths in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky and were located just north of an oppressive early-season heat wave, setting records from South Texas to Florida.
Forecasters said bad weather could move to the East Coast later Monday and warned millions of people outdoors during the holidays to watch the skies.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who had previously declared a state of emergency, said at a news conference Monday that four more people had died in four other counties.
The death toll of 21 also includes seven deaths in Cooke County, Texas, following a tornado on Saturday that devastated a cell home park, officials said, and eight deaths in Arkansas.
Two other people died in Mayes County, Oklahoma, east of Tulsa, the government said. Among the injured were visitors to a wedding.
The most recent network left with destroyed homes and no power is the small network in Charleston, Kentucky, which hit directly Sunday afternoon through a tornado that the governor said appeared to be on the ground for 64 kilometers.
“It’s a big disaster,” said Rob Linton, who lives in Charleston and is the leader of the fire in the nearby town of Dawson Springs, which went through a tornado in 2021. “Trees have fallen everywhere. Houses have moved. There is no utility, no water, no electricity. “
Destroyed homes are seen after a deadly tornado struck Sunday, May 26, 2024, in Valley View, Texas. (Julio Cortes/AP Photo)
Farther east, some rural Hopkins County spots affected by the 2021 tornado around the Barnsley network were torn apart Sunday night, county emergency management director Nick Bailey said.
“A lot of other people were rebuilding their lives and then this,” Bailey said. “Almost the same place, the same houses and everything. “
Beshear traveled several times to the domain where his father grew up to attend ceremonies where other people who had lost everything were given the keys to their new homes.
Heavy storm clouds cross the northwest edge of Davenport, Iowa, Friday, May 24, 2024 (Roy Dabner/Quad City Times AP).
The visits come after a series of tornadoes on a terrifying night in December 2021 killed another 81 people in Kentucky.
“It may have been a lot worse,” Beshear said of the Memorial Day weekend storms. “Kentuckians are very aware of the weather, of everything we’ve been through. “
More than 500,000 consumers in the eastern U. S. were affected Monday afternoon, adding about 170,000 in Kentucky. Twelve states reported at least 10,000 outages, according to PowerOutage. us.
The high alert zone for severe weather on Monday covers a giant part of the eastern United States, from Alabama to New York.
U. S. President Joe Biden sent his condolences to the families of the victims. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was on hand assessing the damage and had contacted governors to see what federal measures they might need.
It’s a dark month, marked by tornadoes and excessive weather in the center of the country.
The tornadoes that hit Iowa last week killed at least five other people and injured dozens. Storms killed eight more people in Houston earlier this month. The severe storms and deadly tornadoes gave the impression that it’s a traditionally bad season for tornadoes, at a time when climate changes are contributing to the severity of storms around the world. April saw the second-highest number of tornadoes ever recorded in the country.
A weather advisory is posted and enthusiasts are asked to clear grandstands as typhoon clouds move over Indianapolis Motor Speedway, forcing the Indianapolis 500 car race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 26, 2024, to be delayed. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Harold Brooks, a senior scientist at Norman’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, said the series of tornadoes over the past two months was due to a persistent environment of warm, moist air.
This warm, moist air sits at the northern end of a warm dome, raising temperatures seen in midsummer through the end of May.
The heat index, a combination of air temperature and humidity to indicate how heat feels through the human body, is expected to reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius) in parts of South Texas on Monday. Records are expected for Brownsville, San Antonio and Dallas.
Miami set a record of F (35. 5 C) on Sunday.
To track the progress of the typhoon system, check out The Associated Press Tornado Tracker.
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Schreiner reported from Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
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