US death toll from extreme weather over the weekend rises to 36

Portions of Pennsylvania, New York and Mid-Atlantic and Southeast states were still under a National Weather Service watch for damaging wind and tornadoes, as the death toll from weekend storms rose to 36 people across six states.

In a White House statement, President Donald Trump said he was monitoring the tornadoes and storms, adding “36 innocent lives have been lost, and many more devastated.”

Trump announced the National Guard had been deployed to Arkansas and pledged help to state and local officials.

The storms that hit the South and the Midwest headed east on Sunday. More than 340,000 consumers had no power in the affected areas as of late afternoon on Sunday, according to the website PowerOutage.

Missouri reported the largest number of deaths, 12 fatalities spanning five counties, the state’s highway patrol posted on X. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe said there was still one person missing in the state, which saw widespread destruction across 27 counties.

Robbie Myers, the director of emergency management in Missouri’s Butler County, told reporters that more than 500 homes, a church and a grocery store in the county were destroyed. A mobile home park had been “totally destroyed,” he said.

“Everything around it here is really bad,” Missouri resident Rick Brittingham told Reuters from Butler County. “The trailer park up the street had fatalities. So, I mean, we don’t have nothing compared to anything like that. I still have a home. They don’t.”

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves posted on X that six deaths had been reported in the state – one in Covington County, two in Jefferson Davis County and three in Walthall County.

According to preliminary assessments, 29 people were injured statewide and 21 counties sustained storm damage, Reeves said.

In Arkansas, three deaths occurred, the state’s Department of Emergency Management said, adding that there were 32 injuries.

Eight deaths were confirmed in a crash involving more than 50 cars in Sherman County in Kansas, caused by a severe dust storm, the Kansas Highway Patrol said in a statement. Many injured travelers were taken to local hospitals.

At least two people died in Alabama due to the severe weather, Governor Kay Ivey said in a post on X. “We have reports of damage in 52 of our 67 counties,” the governor said.

Crashes caused by dust storms near Amarillo, Texas, resulted in three deaths, according to the state’s Department of Public Safety.

Thirty-nine tornadoes were reported from Friday to midday on Sunday, but the number was not yet confirmed, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.

Source: Reuters
--Agencies