✔ At least six people, including children, are dead after possible tornadoes struck Texas and Arkansas overnight. Severe storms have caused power outages and forced residents to shelter in place across the central US.
✔ More than 110 million people in broad swaths of the country are under threat of large hail, damaging winds and fierce twisters Sunday, mainly throughout the mid-Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee River valleys.
✔ Dangerous storms and searing heat will continue affecting vast portions of the US this Memorial Day weekend and could disrupt outdoor plans and travel.
Over 300,000 people in central US left without power
There are power outages in five states following severe storms in the central US over Memorial Day weekend, according to poweroutage.us.
Here’s where customers are experiencing outages as of just after 10 a.m. ET Sunday:
- Missouri: 136,793 customers without power
- Arkansas: 121,017 customers without power
- Texas: 77,963 customers without power
- Kentucky: 37,395 customers without power
- Kansas: 21, 007 customers without power
At least 5 people killed after tornado-spawning storms strike Texas and Oklahoma
At least five people, including children, are dead after a possible tornado struck Texas overnight, as severe storms caused power outages and forced residents to shelter in place across the central United States on Memorial Day weekend.
The five fatalities were reported in Cooke County, Texas, and three occurred in one household, Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told CNN on Sunday morning. Two children in the area were reported missing and are still unaccounted for as of Sunday morning.
More than 110 million people across broad swaths of the US are under threat of large hail, damaging winds and fierce twisters Sunday, mainly throughout the mid-Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee River valleys.
At least 1 dead, several injured after suspected tornadoes in northwest Arkansas
At least one person is dead after suspected tornadoes hit northwest Arkansas overnight, and emergency medical services have received more than 20 additional calls, according to officials.
The person who died was in eastern Benton County, according to the county’s administrator of public safety, Robert T. McGowen.
Barry Moehring, county judge, said at a news conference that several people have been hurt.
“We know that there are a lot of our citizens who are hurting today, and this morning and they’ve also had a lot of damage, and some are actually hurting physically,” Moehring said.
According to Bentonville Mayor Stephanie Orman, crews are working to respond to power outages and emergency medical calls.
“We have crews mobilized throughout the city. We have power lines down — about 10,000 probably out with power. We’ve got trees across roads. We’re really encouraging individuals to stay off the roads as we try to clean up those road systems. We also have signals down,” Orman said.
New tornado watch issued for nearly 7 million people in parts of the Ohio River Valley
A new tornado watch is in effect for southern Indiana, central Kentucky, and western and middle Tennessee until 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. CT), according to the Storm Prediction Center.
The watch impacts 6.8 million people and includes Louisville, Nashville and Knoxville.
A line of strong thunderstorms with a history of producing severe weather continues to move east into the area, prompting this new watch.
