Powerful storms and possible tornadoes hit Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas on Saturday night, killing at least 14 people, damaging homes and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
Severe weather, including the threat of tornadoes, moved eastward on Sunday. More than six million people were under tornado watch as of Sunday afternoon, including parts of Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. More than 18 million people were in a larger area at “greater” risk than severe weather.
In North Texas on Saturday, a tornado left at least seven dead — including two children, ages 2 and 5 — and at least 20 injured, Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington said.
Three of those people were trapped in the rubble of a house, he said. Another person died after her house was swept away.
“Unfortunately we fear that the number is likely to increase,” he said, adding that some of the injured were in serious condition.
Rescuers are still searching for people who may be trapped in the debris, he said. At least 60 people were stranded after a Shell truck stopped in Cooke County was severely damaged and several people suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
In Oklahoma, two people were killed in the town of Pryor, northeast of Tulsa, following overnight thunderstorms, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said Sunday.
In Arkansas, one person died in Benton County and several people were injured, according to local authorities, who reported in a meeting Sunday that the area had likely been hit by tornadoes.
On Saturday, at Lake Ray Roberts Marina in Denton County, Texas, north of Dallas, a tornado damaged boats, boathouses and a fuel depot, and overturned several recreational vehicles.
“The damage is so much that we don’t even know where to start” the Navy said on Facebook Sunday, noting there were no serious injuries.
Melissa and Derek Collister, who fled their home Saturday evening in Valley View, Texas, just north of Denton, said their home had a damaged roof and part of the bathroom ceiling had collapsed.
As they drove around the neighborhood on Sunday, they saw badly damaged homes.
“It’s from start to finish,” he said. “It’s not like he went straight to the center or anything like that. It’s all over.”
Rosa Perez, 48, and her husband recently moved into a home in Valley View that they’ve been building for six years. As the storm passed, they could feel the house moving as if it would take flight at any moment. Now her neighbor’s mobile home is just a few meters from one of their walls.
“It was swinging and hitting our house,” he said. “I’m glad our house was there because otherwise theirs probably would have collapsed.”
In Rogers County, Oklahoma, trees and power lines were toppled by a possible tornado, knocking out electricity and leaving some roads inaccessible, authorities said means of social communication.
Power was out in Claremore, a city about 30 miles northeast of Tulsa, and would remain that way “for an extended period of time.” second to the city police department.
As of noon Sunday, there were 23 weather-related injuries in Claremore. Nineteen people were taken to hospital, three of them with possible life-threatening injuries.
“The areas of town southeast of downtown Claremore are pretty devastated,” said Billy Tomlinson, 40, a Claremore attorney. “Everywhere huge centuries-old trees are uprooted, others snap like toothpicks, power lines fall everywhere.”
In total, more than 440,000 customers remained without power Sunday afternoon in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and Texas. according to the PowerOutage.us websitewhich tracks information about utilities across the country.
The United States has been hit by an onslaught of destructive storms over the past week, with at least a few reports of tornadoes each day.
Five people died and part of a town was destroyed Tuesday in Iowa after the southwestern part of the state was engulfed by a system that produced a powerful tornado that carved a 43-mile path and strong winds of at least 185 miles per hour.
Kristi Eaton AND Mary Beth Gahan contributed to the reporting.
