On Saturday night, a severe storm hit the central and southern regions of the United States, resulting in at least seven deaths in Texas and four in Arkansas and Oklahoma combined.
This wave of strong storms, including tornadoes, swept through parts of Texas and its surrounding areas in Arkansas and Oklahoma on Saturday night, causing at least seven fatalities in Cooke County and Denton County, Texas, including two children. Additionally, the storm also left dozens injured.
The powerful storm stretched from Dallas, Texas to southern Oklahoma, destroying homes and leaving tens of thousands without power. According to data from Texas’s largest electricity company, Oncor, as of 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, over 49,000 households were still without power in the areas it serves.
The hardest-hit area appears to be Cooke County, where the sheriff reported that a tornado hit a mobile home park and a travel center along a highway, overturning several heavy recreational vehicles and shutting down a highway near Dallas. Five people died in Cooke County, including a family of three.
Officials in Denton County mentioned that ambulances transported some injured individuals to hospitals following the storm, but the total number of injuries remains unknown.
In addition, four people lost their lives in the storms in Arkansas and Oklahoma, with two fatalities in each state.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, over 110 million people across the country were threatened by severe hail, destructive winds, and violent tornadoes, primarily concentrated in the central region of Mississippi, Ohio, and the Tennessee Valley. The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service warned that as the storms move eastward, “violent tornadoes, extreme hail, and widespread wind damage” will occur.
As the storm continues its path, more residents in various areas are being affected. According to data from “PowerOutage.US,” tracking power outages nationwide, on Sunday morning, over 250,000 households and businesses were without electricity in the Plains region and Missouri, including over 93,000 in Missouri, approximately 48,000 in Kansas, more than 34,000 in Texas, and 24,000 in Oklahoma.
Experts caution that climate change may impact the timing and locations of tornadoes striking across the country. According to data from the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service, in April of this year, over 300 tornadoes occurred in the United States, making it the second-most tornado-active April in U.S. history.
Just two days before the storm disaster on Saturday night, areas such as Temple, Texas were also recently hit by a tornado.