Storms, tornadoes hit parts of US
Severe weather outbreak kills at least a dozen people as storms, tornadoes moved across the Midwest and South.
At least 30 people were reported dead after dozens of tornadoes, high winds and dust storms pushed across the United States on Friday and Saturday.
Deaths were reported in Kansas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas and in Missouri, where at least were three killed Friday night when an EF-3 tornado with peak winds of 140 mph ripped through Bakersfield, the National Weather Service said Saturday.
The severe weather threat will linger through Sunday from Florida northward into the upper Ohio River Valley, the Storm Prediction Center warned. More than 50 million in the U.S. are at risk on Sunday, the weather service said. A tornado watch is in effect for parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina until 10 a.m.
The Storm Prediction Center had logged 56 preliminary tornado reports in seven states since Friday, including more than 20 in Mississippi and 13 in Missouri. The weather service will send out survey crews to confirm the total number of tornadoes.
In Missouri, state officials confirmed a dozen people had died. “The devastation is heartbreaking,” Governor Mike Kehoe posted on X Saturday. “Homes and businesses have been destroyed, entire communities are without power and the road to recovery will not be easy.”
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves posted on X Saturday night that six deaths had been reported, with three additional people missing. Reeves also reported 29 injuries statewide, including 15 in Covington County. In Kansas, eight people died when high winds and a dust storm caused a massive collision on Interstate-70 involving at least 50 vehicles, said Trooper Tod with the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Three people died in Independence County, Arkansas, according to the state division of emergency management and 32 people were injured across eight counties. A Friday night tornado in Cave City was confirmed by the weather service as an EF-3, with 165 mph winds, just below the threshold for EF-4.
On its journey from the Pacific coast, the wild weather system dumped feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada and spawned a high-end EF-0 tornado in Pico Rivera, California, just east of Los Angeles. Winds of 70 mph to 80 mph overturned vehicles in several states.
The high winds fanned fast-moving wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma, state officials said. In Texas, 13 fires had burned over more than 27,000 acres, according to the Texas A & M Forest Service. One person was reported dead after a pileup in Bovina, Texas.
In Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt declared an emergency for a dozen counties on Saturday, and a statement reported more than 112 injuries.
In Bakersfield, Missouri, the Weather Service survey showed several homes were destroyed and others damaged by the tornado, which ripped through the area around 8:30 on Friday evening, rolling cars up to 100 yards and uprooting numerous trees.
Another tornado traveled more than 13 miles near Glendale Fishery in Daviess County, Indiana on Friday night, causing “significant damage to farm outbuildings and grain bins,” the weather service said.
Later on Friday night, a tornado near Oregon, Missouri destroyed two homes and damaged several others, the weather service reported after a storm survey
On Saturday night, a tornado in Calera, Alabama damaged businesses and homes near I-65, according to the weather service.
Amidst tornadoes and other severe weather, a 3.0 earthquake rumbled Magee, Mississippi on Saturday afternoon, southeast of Jackson.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
