The death toll has risen to at least 40 across seven U.S. states following powerful storms, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without electricity. Severe weather, including tornadoes and wildfires, swept through Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Alabama and Mississippi, causing extensive damage and numerous injuries.
Missouri experienced the highest number of fatalities, with at least 12 deaths confirmed from scattered tornadoes overnight, according to NBC News.
Butler County coroner Jim Akers described one devastated home as unrecognizable, noting rescuers walked on walls and found a floor flipped upside down.
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A Wayne County resident, Dakota Henderson, was quoted as saying that rescuers discovered five bodies outside the remains of his aunt’s house.
In Kansas, at least eight individuals died in a pile-up involving more than 55 vehicles caused by a dust storm, resulting in numerous injuries, CBS News reported.
Arkansas reported three deaths in Independence County and at least 29 injuries spread across eight counties.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves confirmed six deaths across three counties due to tornadoes, with 27 additional injuries reported statewide. Around 217 residents were displaced by the storms, and nearly 8,000 customers remained without power by Sunday evening after an initial peak of about 36,000 outages.
Oklahoma faced deadly wildfires driven by strong winds, resulting in at least four confirmed fatalities. The fires, fueled by gusty conditions, destroyed around 293 homes and buildings, including Gov. Kevin Stitt’s farmhouse.
About 70,000 acres burned statewide, prompting evacuations in multiple communities, including Stillwater, where officials urged residents to leave due to dangerous fires.
Texas experienced four fatalities, some caused by vehicle crashes amid near-zero visibility conditions from dust storms. Sgt. Cindy Barkley of the state’s Department of Public Safety described the visibility as the worst she had ever witnessed.
Wildfires in Texas, notably in Roberts County, expanded rapidly to over 32 square miles before crews successfully halted their progression.
Alabama saw at least three deaths from tornadoes, confirmed in the central communities of Plantersville and Winterboro. Tornadoes caused considerable damage across the state, prompting urgent warnings and forcing National Weather Service employees in Birmingham to temporarily take shelter.
The National Weather Service reported at least 557 storms on Friday and another 135 on Saturday, including 66 tornadoes across the impacted states.
The storm system, classified under a rare “high risk” category, generated intense winds and severe weather conditions affecting more than 100 million people from the Canadian border down to Texas.
Power disruptions were widespread, with over 250,000 households and businesses experiencing outages across Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Mississippi, according to poweroutage.us.
Severe weather threats, including tornadoes, remain possible as the storms move eastward along the Appalachian Mountains and the lower Great Lakes region. Forecasters anticipate this system exiting overnight Monday, though lingering effects may affect New England’s coast into Tuesday.
Another winter storm originating from the Pacific Ocean is impacting Northern California with heavy snowfall and strong winds forecasted for the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Federal forecasters also predict an expanding low-pressure system developing in the Rocky Mountains and the High Plains, potentially elevating fire risks again across states like Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas.
