At least 23 killed in tornado-spawning storms sweeping central US: Live updates | CNN (2024)

Michael Gonzalez, who lives in Valley View, Texas, said he was doing some late-night work on Saturday when his wife came to alert him they needed to take shelter.

The lights started flickering and he grabbed a headlight and went down the hallway when the tornado hit, he said.

“About the time I got at the end of the hallway right before I got to her, it hit.And it blew in like crazy,” Gonzalez said.

He said he knew they would not make it to the storm shelter so Gonzalez crouched over his wife in a corner “until it ended.”

In the aftermath, Gonzalez said the couple was feeling “a little bit tender — we’re a little bit beat up. It was a doozie that’s for sure.”

After conducting storm surveys, the National Weather Service said initial findings indicated that the tornado that struck Valley View was of at least EF2 strength. At least seven people were killed by the severe storms Saturday night, Sheriff Ray Sappington told CNN.

At least 23 people are dead in several states after severe weather and tornadoes struck the central United States this weekend.

The sprawling storms on Sunday created the most active severe storm day of the year.

Thunderstorms and high winds continued into Monday for a significant portion of the Northeast.

Ongoing alerts:

Here’s what else to know:

A fifth person has died in Kentucky as a result of severe weather that ripped through the state Sunday night, the governor said.

With a clean-up underway, Beshear warned people to be careful.

“So we’re asking everybody that’s out there all across the country cleaning up today, be careful. You are important. Your family wants you to come home tonight,” the governor said.

Beshear said that another person has suffered a “very serious injury,” but appears to be a “little bit better.” According to the governor, a tornado believed to be at least an EF-3 devastated some homes in Charleston and Barnsley leaving nothing left.

At least 23 have died across the country due to severe weather this weekend.

This post has been updated with additional comments from the governor.

One person is dead after a large tree fell onto a residential building in Mountain Brook, Alabama, according to the Mountain Brook Fire Department.

Central Alabama was under a severe thunderstorm watch through 10 a.m. ET Monday morning, with wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour and large hail.

Mountain Brook is a suburb of Birmingham.

This latest death marks the 22ndweather-related fatality in the US since Saturday evening.

A tornado watch was issued by the Storm Prediction Center for Washington, DC, parts of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland, including Baltimore. The watch is in effect for more than 16 million people until 11 p.m. EDT Monday.

A couple of tornadoes are possible along with damaging wind gusts to 70 mph and hail up to the size of ping pong balls.

“Damaging winds are expected to be the most common risk, but some hail is possible and a moist environment and strong atmospheric winds will also support a tornado risk,” the SPC warned Monday afternoon.

Any storms could also produce drenching rainfall.

A severe thunderstorm watch was issued for parts of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey Monday afternoon by the Storm Prediction Center. The watch is in effect for more than 30 million people until 9:00 p.m. EDT Monday.

New York City, Philadelphia and Newark, New Jersey, are just a few of the major metropolitan areas within the watch.

Damaging wind gusts up to 65 mph, hail and tornadoes are the main threats with any storms in the watch area Monday afternoon.

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Memorial Day observance at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday.

President Joe Biden spoke with governors of states impacted by severe storms on Monday, the White House said.

Biden talked on the phone with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott following “devastating tornadoes across the Southern Plains,” according to the White House.

“He expressed his condolences for the lives lost in each state,” the statement said. “The Federal Emergency Management Agency is on the ground conducting damage assessments with state and local counterparts.”

Biden “reiterated that he has directed his administration to provide federal support as needed,” the White House said.

Some context: CNN previously reported the sprawling severe storms pounding the eastern half of the United States on Sunday created so much hazardous weather it was the most active severe storm day of the year.

There were at least 632 preliminary reports of severe weather Sunday spanning from Wyoming to New Hampshire, according to Storm Prediction Center data. The previous high was 565 reports on May 8.

Severe thunderstorms will track through a significant portion of the Northeast’s highly populous I-95 corridor this afternoon and evening with the threat of damaging wind gusts, hail and tornadoes. Some cities may encounter multiple rounds of storms.

Here’s when the greatest threat for damaging storms is expected Monday in several major cities. All times are local.

Washington, DC:

Baltimore:

Philadephia:

New York City:

Five rare tornado emergencies were issued by the National Weather Service as tornadoes carved a deadly path through the US over the weekend.

Tornado emergencies are the most dire tornado warnings and are only issued when a tornado threatens catastrophic damage and loss of life, often in a populated area. Nearly 70,000 tornado warnings have been issued in the past 25 years, but just more than 300 have risen to the level of a tornado emergency, according to data from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

There have already been 14 tornado emergencies in the US this year, including the five since Friday, with one in Texas and four in Kentucky.

On average, about a dozen tornado emergencies occur in the US each year, but that number is skewed significantly by the devastating 2011 severe season, which had 60. Only a handful of tornado emergencies happen in many years.

Four of the weekend’s tornado emergencies occurred on Sunday in Kentucky. The emergencies accounted for a fraction of the more than 100 tornado warnings issued by the National Weather Service that day.

Sunday marked the sixth day this year with 100 or more tornado warnings, the second-most on record for a single year. Only 2011 had more with nine days.

Severe weather and tornados prompted Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to issue a statewide emergency declaration last night to make sure resources are available in the aftermath.

In addition to the statewide emergency declaration, 14 counties and 5 cities issued emergency declarations of their own, Beshear said.

Beshear said during a news conference that currently, there 174,586 customers without power and “crews working around the clock to make sure power is restored.”

He said that for many Kentuckians, especially in larger cities, power is expected to be restored today. However, in western Kentucky, it could take days until power comes back because there has been “significant damage to the power infrastructure.”

At its peak, the storm knocked out power for 215,144 Kentucky customers, the governor said.

As recovery efforts begin, the National Guard has six teams joining the Division of Forestry in two counties, the governor said.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at least four people have died across the state due to severe weather this Memorial Day weekend.

“Sadly we can confirm that we have lost at least four Kentuckians from last night’s storm,” Beshear said at a news conference from the KentuckyEmergency Operations Center.

“That means we know that there are at least four families this morning that have suffered the loss of a loved one less than 24 hours ago that are hurting and we ought to rally around them and do everything we can to carry them and the days the weeks and the years to come.”

The governor said a fifth person is “fighting for their life.”

The four fatalities include:

The update in Kentucky brings the nationwide death toll from the Memorial Day Weekend severe weather to at least 21.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks during a press conference on Monday.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said that devastating storms impacted almost the entire state last night.

He added they know that one tornado on the ground was “at least 40 miles and a number of other tornadoes that spun down and spun back up, we’re awaiting the National Weather Service to confirm those tornadoes.”

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New video shows the aftermath of a tornado in southwestern Kentucky. The aerial footage over Charleston, Kentucky, shows cars tossed into the piles of debris that are remains of houses. Only the basem*nt remains in at least one of the structures.

A rare tornado emergency was issued for the area on Sunday evening, warning of a “large and destructive tornado” and urging residents to take action.

“This is a particularly dangerous situation. Take cover now!” the National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky, said.

Survey crews from the National Weather Service will visit the area to determine how strong the tornado was.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is holding a news conference to address the impact of severe weather and tornadoes that have hit the state.

At least four people died in Kentucky due to severe weather-related events.

Beshearissued a state of emergency early Monday morning as the commonwealth battled severe weather.

The National Weather Service office in Paducah, Kentucky, is sending out at least two storm survey teams Monday to assess damage, theoffice said.

The storms — and searing heat in some states — continue to disrupt plans and cause power outages through the Memorial Day weekend as millions face severe weather threats.

This post has been updated with additional information.

From left to right, Laura, Miranda and Marco Esparza

A woman and two of her children were in their home in Valley View, Texas, when a tornado struck Saturday night, killing all three.

Laura Esparza and her children Marco, 10, and Miranda, 16, died after their trailer was thrown across a street, Esparza’s brother-in-law told CNN Monday. Her husband survived.

“It was a really terrible thing,” Benito Esparza told CNN, speaking in Spanish. His brother, Refugio Esparza, survived the tornado, but suffered a broken leg and pelvis. “He lost three people, his wife and two kids,” Benito Esparza said. “It’s not easy.”

Two ofRefugio Esparza’s older children were not at the home at the time of the storm, his brother said.

Benito Esparza spent Monday morning looking through the rubble of his brother’s home for family possessions. It’s a difficult time for the whole family, he told CNN.

“It’s a very big disaster for everyone, as you can see,” said Esparza.

At least 19 people, including seven in Texas, were killed by severe weather over the weekend.

Parts of north-central Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, were upgraded to a level 2 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms Monday morning by the Storm Prediction Center. Previously, a level 1 of 5 risk level was in place for the southern Plains.

Isolated severe thunderstorms are possible in parts of Texas and Oklahoma later Monday afternoon and evening, but confidence has increased storms in the Dallas area could unload dangerous hail and strong winds.

Hail stones larger than golf balls could pelt portions of Dallas, Fort Worth and Waco, potentially causing property damage or injury.

A tornado can’t be ruled out in any storm Monday, but the risk is quite low in the Plains, providing a measure of solace after this weekend’s deadly storms.

Sprawling severe storms pounding the eastern half of the United States Sunday created so much hazardous weather it was the most-active severe storm day of the year.

There were at least 622 preliminary reports of severe weather Sunday spanning from Wyoming to New Hampshire, according to Storm Prediction Center data. The previous high was 565 reports on May 8. Among Sunday’s storm reports were 14 tornadoes, including multiple tornado emergencies in Kentucky.

Giant hail the size of a softball was reported to the east of Springfield, Missouri. A hurricane-force wind gust in St. Louis was among the most notable of the 485 reports of damaging winds.

April and May are the two busiest months for severe storms and tornadoes, but this year has been exceptional even by those standards. It was already the second-most active May for severe storm reports before Sunday’s record day, according to Evan Bentley, a meteorologist for the Storm Prediction Center. Additionally, a tornado was reported every day for two weeks straight from late April into early May, making it the second-most active April on record for tornadoes.

This map shows the location of the preliminary storm reports in May, with tornado reports in red, wind reports in blue and hail reports in green. It's been the second most active May for severe weather on record.

A line of potentially damaging storms moving through Georgia prompted the Storm Prediction Center to issue a severe thunderstorm watch for more than 7 million people in the state and South Carolina.

The watch includes Atlanta and warns of the potential for damaging winds up to 70 mph and quarter-sized hail. An isolated tornado is also possible, even though the primary threat is for damaging winds.

Storms with 60 mph winds were already triggering severe thunderstorm warnings to the west of Atlanta.

Severe weather over the Memorial Day weekend has left at least 19 people dead across four states. At least eight deaths have been reported in Arkansas, seven in Texas, two in Oklahoma and two in Kentucky.

Some injuries have also been reported in areas hit by the severe weather.

More than120 millionpeople remain at risk of severe weather Monday, concentrated over the East Coast, where officials are urging people to take precautions.

A second storm-related death was reported in Kentucky after a tree fell on a home in Mercer County, according to the county’s Emergency Management branch.

First responders were dispatched to the residence early Monday morning and were told there was a possible unresponsive person inside, the release says. The coroner called the death at the scene.

Another individual was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Mercer County is located roughly 70 miles southeast of Louisville, where anotherstorm-related deathwas reported on Sunday. Injuries due to the severe weather have also been reported in the state.

The deadly storm system has now killed at least 19 people in four states.

A few injuries and substantial damage are being reported in Hopkins County, Kentucky as a result of severe weather that struck the area Sunday night, according to officials.

Hopkins County Sheriff Matt Sanderson told CNN that the damage is concentrated in the Charleston and Barnsley areas of the county.

Hopkins County is located about 90 miles from Warren County, where Bowling Green is located.

The National Weather Service of Paducah, Kentucky is planning to send teams to regions of the state Monday to survey the damage caused by the storms.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. ET to address the storm damage and provide an update on the state’s response, according to his spokesperson.

Severe storms are ongoing across parts of the Southeast and Appalachian Mountains Monday morning, unloading damaging wind gusts, hail and potential tornadoes.

Areas from New York to Alabama are under a level 2 of 5 storm threat Monday, with a risk of damaging wind gusts, large hail and a few tornadoes. Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC, are most at risk for tornadoes.

Storms are expected to move through Atlanta by the end of the morning. By Monday afternoon, storms are expected to move through the Northeast and could impact major metropolitan areas like New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Baltimore.

Northeast cities, including Philadelphia and Baltimore, are under the heaviest rainfall threat, with 1 to 2 inches of rain per hour possible.

Central Alabama is under a severe thunderstorm watch through 10 a.m. ET Monday morning, with gusts up to 70 miles per hour, large hail and tornadoes are possible.

Atornadospins in Eddyville, Kentucky, on May 26.

The National Weather Service of Paducah, Kentucky said it is planning to send at least two damage survey teams to survey tornado damage on Monday.

One of the teams will be surveying the damage along Calvert City to Greenville, while another will head from Goreville to the Lake of Egypt area into Saline County in Illinois.

It said it will take several days to survey all the areas impacted by storm damage,

At least one person died in Kentucky due to the severe weather, according to local authorities.

Phone lines were down Monday morning in parts of Kentucky that were hit hardest by severe weather over the weekend, according to a news release from Kentucky State Police that was obtained by CNN affiliateWNKY.

KSP Post 3, which serves several counties in the southern part of the state, reported their phone lines were down, and contingency phone lines had been established.

Bowling Green, a city in Warren County, is within the impacted area.

CNN has reached out to officials to get an update on the outages.

There were more than 200,000 customers in Kentucky without power as of 2:10 a.m. ET on Monday, according topoweroutage.us.

Lori Arnold-Ellis speaks with CNN.

Parts of northwest Arkansas were left with a lot of debris as severe storms hit the state, saidLori Arnold-Ellis, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross of Greater Arkansas.

Arnold-Ellis old CNN’s Rosemary Churchthere were houses with roofsmissing, trees onhouses, and a lot of debrisin hard-hit areas.

Arnold-Ellis said the Red Cross was working to prioritize people’s immediate needs and safety.

At least eight people were killed in Arkansas in severe weather, the highest toll among four states that reported deaths in the central United States.

The National Weather Service rates the strength of tornadoes using theEnhanced Fujita (EF) Scale, which ranks tornadoes from 0 to 5 by assessing damage and determining wind speed.

Here’s the damage associated with each level:

EF0: 65- to 85-mph wind gusts

These tornadoes are the least destructive and typically break tree branches, damage road signs and push over small, shallow-rooted trees.

EF1: 86- to 110-mph wind gusts

With similar wind speeds toweak hurricanes, these tornadoes can push moving cars off course, shift mobile homes from their foundations and remove roof surfaces.

EF2: 111- to 135-mph wind gusts

Significant damage starts to emerge from these tornadoes, which can snap or uproot trees, destroy mobile homes and tear roofs completely off homes.

They also can pick up small objects and turn them into dangerous projectiles.

EF3: 136- to 165-mph wind gusts

These tornadoes produce severe damage, uprooting nearly all trees in their path, blowing over large vehicles like trains and buses and significantly damaging buildings.

Less than 5% of all tornadoes are rated EF3 or higher.

EF4: 166- to 200-mph wind gusts

Easily destroying homes, tossing cars and downing large trees, these tornadoes can be devastating.

EF5: 200+-mph wind gusts

These monsters cause complete devastation, flattening nearly everything in their path.

They are rare, with only 59 have been recorded in the United States since 1950, according to theStorm Prediction Center.

Over 25 million people are under heat alerts, mainly across east and south Texas and central and southern Louisiana and Mississippi, as extreme weather grips parts of the US.

Deadly severe storms tore through Texas over the weekend, killing seven people, including a 2-year-old and 5-year-old, in Cooke County on Saturday night.

South Texas is under an excessive heat warning through Monday evening, and over the next two days, the heat index values could top 119 degrees Fahrenheit in Laredo, and 113 in Austin and Houston.

Records may be set: Temperatures across south Texas will be 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit above normal and nearly two dozen records could be set or tied.

These levels pose a risk of heat illness for anyone with prolonged outdoor exposure during the day, while overnight temperatures will be 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, preventing slight nighttime relief.

These high heat conditions will relax somewhat after Tuesday.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshearissued a state of emergency early on Monday morning as the state battles damaging storms.

“Severe weather continues to move through the commonwealth with multiple reports of wind damage and tornadoes,” Beshear said.

One person has been reported dead inKentucky in the storms.

There are nearly 135,000 customers without power in the state, according to poweroutage.us.

At least 18 people, including four children, are dead in four states in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky after suspected tornadoes struck the central United States overnight — and as millions face continued severe weather threats through the remainder of the Memorial Day weekend.

Nearly 109 million people across broad swaths of the US were under threat of large hail, damaging winds and a fiercetwisterson Sunday, mainly throughout the mid-Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee River valleys.

At least 11 tornado reports were recorded on Sunday, and more severe weather is expected on Memorial Day.

Here’s what to know:

A race fan makes a phone call while trying to stay dry during a weather advisory before the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in Indianapolis, Indiana on May 26.

At least 11 tornado reports were recorded on Sunday, and more severe weather is expected on Memorial Day.

Over 120 million people are at risk of severe weather Monday, concentrated over the East Coast, south of New England, where there is a level 2 out of 5 threat.

Storms that swept through Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky on Sunday continue to move east and pose ongoing threats.

Storms projected through Monday are capable of producing severe tornados, large hail, and damaging winds.

The National Weather Service advises residents to be alert and check the forecast overnight and during their Memorial Day plans.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaksat the White House in Washington, DC, on May 14.

President Joe Biden sent condolences Sunday for the people killed in the weekend storms and “everyone who has been affected.”

Biden also thanked first responders and emergency personnel for their work.

“This comes as communities across the Midwest and South are still reeling from deadly storms and severe weather,” he added.

Federal emergency management officials are conducting damage assessments, and “we stand ready to provide support as needed,” Biden said.

The severe weather that swept through Arkansas killed at least eight people in the state, Arkansas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Cindy Murphy told CNN Sunday evening.

Previously, officials had reported there wereat least five deathsin the state.

At least one person died in Boone County, one in Baxter County, three in Benton County and three in Marion County.

The updated toll means the powerful storm system has killed at least 18 people across four states.

According to officials:

8 people were killed in Arkansas

7 people were killed in Texas

2 people were killed in Oklahoma

1 person was killed in Kentucky

Damage is seen at a truck stop the morning after a tornado on May 26 in Valley View, Texas.

After conducting storm surveys from the tornadoes that struck northern Texas on Saturday night, the National Weather Service said initial findings indicate a tornado of at least EF2 strength struck the city of Valley View.

“Extensive damage was found in Cooke County, primarily south of Valley View near the Cooke/Denton County line, with a preliminary rating of EF2 with estimated maximum winds of 135 mph,” the weather service said.

Additionally, the survey team said, “Damage found in south Montague County was consistent with an EF2 tornado with estimated maximum winds of 125 mph.”

This tornado was just south of Forestburg, Texas.

Additional details about damage and path length for both tornadoes will be released as the surveys are complete.

Surveys are still ongoing near Pilot Point in Denton County, Celina in Collin County and other areas in north Texas.

Vehicles in a body shop are seen amid debris the morning after a tornado rolled through on May 26 in Valley View, Texas.

More than a third of all Texas counties are under a disaster declaration after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a declaration for four additional counties on Sunday.

The new declaration affects Denton, Collin, Cooke and Montague counties, bringing the total to 106 counties in the state.

The storms have claimed the lives of seven people in the state, including four children, and at least 100 people have been injured, Abbott said.

Survey teams from the National Weather Service found more severe damage in Claremore, northeastern Oklahoma, indicatingthe tornado therewas at least a category EF3.

EF3 tornadoes pack winds of 136 to 165 mph. The damage was found north of Highway 20, east of the city.

The rating is still preliminary. Additional damage details and path length will be released once the surveys are complete.

The tornado left23 people injuredin Claremore, a city of about 20,000 people. Two people were killed in nearby Pryor. The area was also experiencing power outages and property damage from the severe storms.

Electrical substations were downed and the city of Claremore was left with no operating gas systems, Claremore City Manager John Feary said.

Among the injured, 19 were transported to hospitals, three with potentially critical or life-threatening injuries, Feary said.

At least seven people were killed in the town of Valley View in Cooke County, Texas, when severe storms struck the area Saturday night, Sheriff Ray Sappington told CNN.

Authorities previously said five people had been killed in Valley View. Officials then discovered the bodies of two children, ages 2 and 5, on Sunday, according to Sappington. Two

other juveniles were among those killed in the storms, he added.

Three of the deaths occurred in one household, the sheriff told CNN on Sunday morning.

Cooke County is in northern Texas, along the state’s border with Oklahoma. The small town of Valley View has a population of just under 800 people.