At least 15 deaths have been reported as a series of severe storms and tornadoes battered the South and the Great Plains over Memorial Day weekend, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power.
Residents in Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee were hit with twisters, heavy winds and flooding in terrible conditions that began Saturday and moved into Sunday. A tornado watch was issued for multiple states to last until at least 11 p.m. CT Sunday.
Nearly 400,000 customers in Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky were without power. More than 46,000 were without power in Texas amid sweltering heat, as well as more than 22,000 in Tennessee. Nearly 16,000 customers were out in Kansas and nearly 14,000 in Indiana, according to poweroutage.us.
Concerns about severe weather also delayed the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway by four hours. Spectators were asked to evacuate and take shelter; they were allowed back in after lightning cleared the area around 2 p.m. ET.
Seven storm-related deaths were reported in Cooke County, Texas; two in Mayes County, Oklahoma; five in different counties in Arkansas; and one in Louisville, Kentucky.
The dead in Texas included two children, ages 2 and 5, and three family members who were found together in a home near the small community of Valley View, Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington said.
In addition, ambulances and helicopters took multiple people in Denton County, Texas, to hospitals for storm-related injuries, officials said. The full extent of those injuries was not immediately clear.
Of the five people who dies in Arkansas, one was a 26-year-old woman who was found dead outside a destroyed home in Olvey, a small community in Boone County, said Daniel Bolen of the county’s Office of Emergency Management.
The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado in Boone County on Sunday.
An additional death in Arkansas was reported in Benton County, one other was reported in Baxter County, and two more were reported in Marion County.
One person died in Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor Craig Greenberg said Sunday on X, following “the severe weather that just moved through the area and some structural damage reported.”
The man was believed to have been hit by a tree when he was found dead, NBC affiliate WAVE reported.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in an update Sunday afternoon on X that though conditions had calmed some, another wave of storms was expected later in the evening. He also noted that at least five counties had declared states of emergency and that an estimated 213,000 customers were reported without power.
Beshear warned people to avoid flooded roads and reminded them to steer clear of downed power lines.
“We have gotten through at least the first part of this event, and we want to make sure we don’t lose anybody else,” he said. “So everybody out there stay safe, be very weather-aware as we go into tonight and late tonight.”
Details about the two deaths in Oklahoma were not immediately available.
Violent storms overtook the region Saturday evening and overnight, overturning 18-wheelers, destroying homes, toppling power lines and crushing a Shell station in Cooke County, where dozens of people were trapped for a period Saturday night, Sappington told NBC News. No serious injuries or deaths were reported at the truck stop, and those taking shelter appeared to have been evacuated by Sunday morning.
One of the tornadoes Saturday night barreled through a rural area near a mobile home park in Texas, officials said. And in Oklahoma, guests at an outdoor wedding were injured by storm damage.
“It’s just a trail of debris left. The devastation is pretty severe,” Sappington told The Associated Press.
Multiple tornadoes and hail 2 inches in diameter were reported in Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to the weather service, and six people were injured and taken for treatment in Mayes County, said Michael Dunham, the county’s deputy director of emergency management.
In Benton County, Arkansas, “multiple” people were injured as a result of the storms, and emergency response teams were on search-and-rescue duty throughout the night, Benton County Sheriff Shawn Holloway said. And in Baxter County, “close to two dozen” people were taken to the hospital for injuries, including six children.
“We are still on search-and-rescue right now,” Melody Kwok, a county communications director, said. “This is a very active situation.”
The final day of Bentonville’s annual Bike Fest, which draws an estimated 15,000 attendees to the world’s “Mountain Bike Capital,” was canceled Sunday because of the severe weather.
“It’s important that all of our attendees, partners, and staff remain safe and continue to shelter as directed, and continue to monitor local weather and public safety directives,” the event’s website said.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency Sunday afternoon, earmarking $250,000 from the governor’s disaster relief fund for the Division of Emergency Management.
The severe weather will push east Sunday into the Midwest and the Ohio Valley, including Chicago; Indianapolis; Nashville, Tennessee; St. Louis; and Cincinnati. Storms are expected to affect 42 million people in the region.
A tornado watch is in effect in the mid-Mississippi Valley, including Kentucky and Tennessee, through the afternoon. Damaging wind gusts are considered the most likely hazard in the majority of the region, but tornadoes and large hail are also possible as the storms move east.
Flash flooding is a risk as the storms creep across the country, especially in the mid-Mississippi Valley, where 3 million people are under flood alerts, including in Memphis, Tennessee, and Tupelo, Mississippi.
The storms will continue to move east and finish off Monday on the East Coast, where a slight risk of severe weather was issued to the mid-Atlantic, including Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina. In that region, 27 million people are at risk of experiencing strong to severe thunderstorms.
Severe wind will be the main hazard to watch out for, but storms could produce large hail or tornadoes.
Throughout the weekend, rainfall totals are expected to range from 1 to 2.5 inches, with 3-plus inches possible in some areas.
