Tornado Update: several storms hit the United States, causing widespread destruction, 18 dead

Tornadoes and storms leave a trail of destruction in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Powerful storms in the United States have killed at least 18 people including two children, and left a wide trail of destruction across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after obliterating homes and destroying a truck stop where drivers took shelter.

At least six people, including children, are dead, after suspected tornadoes struck Texas and Arkansas overnight, as severe storms caused power outages and forced residents to shelter in place across the Central United States on Memorial Day weekend. pic.twitter.com/7KNVdiM4ih
— hanako (@hanako049924187) May 26, 2024

Casualties during the storm

Seven deaths were reported in Texas alone near the Oklahoma border, where a tornado Saturday night harrow through a rural area near a mobile home park, officials said.

In Oklahoma, at least two people were dead after a tornado hit Mayes County late Saturday, the county head of emergency management Johnny Janzen told the Fox News affiliate in Tulsa.

Also in Oklahoma, Guests at an outdoor wedding there were injured. Thousands of residents across the area were without power.

And in northern Arkansas, two people were killed in storms in the early hours of Sunday, local authorities confirmed.

“It’s just a trail of debris left. The devastation is pretty severe,” Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told The Associated Press news agency on Sunday. The dead included two children, ages two and five, the sheriff said.

Locals reaction to the storm

Hugo Parra, who lives in Farmers Branch, north of Dallas, said he rode out the storm with about 40 to 50 people in the bathroom of a petrol station.

“A firefighter came to check on us and he said, ‘You’re very lucky,’” Parra said. “The best way to describe this is the wind tried to rip us out of the bathrooms.”

Rescue mission and power outage

Multiple people were transported to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter in Denton County, Texas, also north of Dallas. But officials did not immediately know the full extent of the injuries.

At least 20,000 homes are without power in the state of Texas. Various structures were damaged by the storm, trees were uprooted. Roads in various areas have been closed. Electricity poles are broken.

Warning issued by Meteorological Department

Earlier on Saturday evening, the Meteorological Department had issued a warning. Meteorologists and authorities have issued urgent warnings to seek cover as the storms passed across the region overnight. “If you are in the path of this storm take cover now!” the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma posted on the social media platform X.

The authorities have issued a state of emergency in the vulnerable areas. Over hundred counties in the country are under disaster alert. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the storm.

Tornadoes are most common in the United States in April and May, especially in the Midwest. Iowa was hit hard last week, when a deadly twister devastated Greenfield. Other storms brought flooding and wind damage elsewhere in the state.

More severe weather has been predicted for the Great Plains region on Sunday, with tornado alerts still in many places. But in Texas, the National Weather Service said the threat had diminished.

“It’ll rebuild,” Sappington told ABC affiliate WFAA. “It’s Texas.”