Topline
At least 21 people were killed and more than 100 injured over the weekend after powerful storms ripped through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky, destroying several homes and knocking out power for nearly a quarter of a million homes and businesses.
Key Facts
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters on Sunday seven people—including two children aged 2 and 5—died in Cooke County, near the state’s border with Oklahoma, after a tornado hit a mobile home park on Saturday night.
Abbott said around 100 people were injured by the twister and more than 200 homes and structures were destroyed as wind speeds reached as high as 135 mph.
In a Sunday evening press conference, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at least eight people in her state had been killed by storms and a powerful tornado as she declared a state of emergency.
In Oklahoma, the severe storms killed at least two people in Mayes County.
A man was killed in Louisville, Kentucky, after he was hit by a falling tree, and the city’s mayor confirmed the incident was caused by the “severe weather” which caused other structural damage in the area.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on Monday that a total of four people ranging in age from 34 to 67 have been killed in the weekend storms, speaking at a press conference at the state’s Emergency Operations Center, adding that a fifth person is “fighting for their life.”
In a statement early on Monday, Beshear also declared a state of emergency and said he had received “multiple reports of wind damage and tornadoes.”
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Big Number
Over 212,000. That’s how many homes and businesses without power in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.US, a drop from nearly 300,000 late Sunday night. Major outages were also reported in Tennessee, Missouri, Virginia and West Virginia as the storm moved through the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys.
Key Background
There were more than 300 tornadoes in the U.S. in April, the second-most ever in the month of April, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. Tornadoes were reported on 18 days of the month and at least six people were killed in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa. Last week, hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged, four people were killed and dozens were hurt in Greenfield, Iowa as a tornado hit with winds between 175 mph and 185 mph, the AP reported.
Tangent
Experts have warned that climate change could impact when and where tornados touch down across the country, but the exact link between the warming planet and the weather phenomena is unknown. Despite the uncertainty, some researchers have noted that tornadoes are shifting east from where they have historically occurred most often and are happening more in colder months, NPR reported.
Surprising Fact
The U.S. experiences roughly 1,200 tornadoes each year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
What To Watch For
The storm system is expected to move eastward on Monday with the National Weather Service warning of severe thunderstorms “over parts of the Middle/Lower Mississippi Valley and Ohio/Tennessee Valleys through Monday morning.” The threat of excessive rain will then move towards parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region on Monday with the possibilities of localized flash flooding, the agency’s forecast adds.
Further Reading