Health
Tornadoes and Storms Devastate Central US, Killing 18 and Leaving Thousands Without Power
Severe storms and tornadoes in central US result in at least 18 deaths, widespread destruction, and power outages affecting hundreds of thousands. Governors and officials declare disaster areas. Evacuations and rescue efforts underway.
4 min read
Originally published by nationnews.com (opens in new tab)
At least 18 people were killed as tornadoes and storms tore across central areas of the US, destroying homes and cutting power to hundreds of thousands.
Seven people were killed in northern Texas, eight in Arkansas, two in Oklahoma and one in Kentucky. Scores more were injured, and almost 500,000 were without electricity across several states on Sunday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said more than a third of all counties in his state were now subject to a disaster declaration.
Sheriff Ray Sappington of Cooke County, Texas, said the death toll there included two children aged two and five and three members of the same family.
“It’s just a trail of debris left,” said the sheriff of Valley View area, which was among those hardest hit by a powerful tornado. “The devastation is pretty severe.”
Footage from the county showed a petrol station and rest stop almost completely destroyed, with twisted metal littered over damaged vehicles.
Twisters overturned lorries, shut a highway near Dallas and left tens of thousands of people without power throughout the region.
Lightning, thunder and heavy rain meanwhile forced the evacuation of around 125,000 spectators as Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 race was delayed by four hours.
Frank Soltysiak, who lives in a mobile home park in north Texas, said his home had been destroyed within minutes when a storm passed through.
Mr Soltysiak had been in a nearby restaurant when the owner drove by “honking his horn, telling everybody to get out”, he told told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.
He grabbed his dog Sampson and took shelter in the walk-in refrigerator of the restaurant.
“That was the most secure structure you could have gone to. And I come out, and everything is destroyed,” he said.
“In a matter of two minutes, it’s gone, everything is gone.”
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said that state emergency response units had been activated to respond to the tornado.
“Please pray for these families,” he said of those whose loved ones were killed. “Their loss is unfathomable.”
The storms in Texas overlapped with record-breaking heat in some parts of the state, with residents receiving triple-digit temperature warnings over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
In Oklahoma, two people were killed in Mayes County and six others injured, the local emergency management authority told the BBC.
