The threat of violent tornadoes in parts of the U.S. proved deadly as well as destructive as whipping winds moved east into the Mississippi Valley and Deep South on Saturday, with at least 17 people killed and scores of homes decimated.
The most fatalities as of Saturday morning were in Missouri, authorities said, which was lashed by twisters overnight that resulted in at least 11 deaths. The Missouri State Highway Patrol also reported that multiple people were injured.
The deaths included a man who was killed after a tornado ripped apart his home,
“It was unrecognizable as a home. Just a debris field," said Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County, describing the scene that confronted rescuers when they arrived. “The floor was upside down. We were walking on walls."
Rescuers managed to save a woman in the home, Akers said.
Officials in Arkansas said on Saturday morning that three people died in Independence County and 29 others were injured across eight counties as storms passed through the state overnight.
“We have teams out surveying the damage from last night’s tornadoes and have first responders on the ground to assist,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on X. “In the meantime, I just released $250,000 from our Disaster Recovery fund to provide resources for this operation for each of the impacted communities.”
On Friday, meanwhile, authorities said three people were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle.
The deaths come as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that triggered deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.
Extreme weather conditions — including hurricane-force winds — are forecast to affect an area home to more than 100 million people. Winds gusting up to 80 mph (130 kph) were predicted from the Canadian border to Texas, threatening blizzard conditions in colder northern areas and wildfire risk in warmer, drier areas to the south.
Evacuations were ordered in some Oklahoma communities as more than 130 fires were reported across the state.
More than 200 homes have been damaged or destroyed in Oklahoma due to fire, Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a Saturday news conference. Some 266 square miles (about 69 hectares) have burned so far in his state.
The State Patrol said winds were so strong that they toppled several tractor-trailers.
“This is terrible out here,” said Charles Daniel, a truck driver hauling a 48-foot (14.6-meter) trailer along Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma. “There’s a lot of sand and dirt in the air. I’m not pushing it over 55 mph. I’m scared it will blow over if I do.”
Experts say it's not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.
“What’s unique about this one is its large size and intensity,” said Bill Bunting of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. “And so what that is doing is producing really substantial impacts over a very large area.”
Tornadoes hit amid storm outbreak
The Storm Prediction Center said fast-moving storms could spawn twisters and hail as large as baseballs, but the greatest threat would come from straight-line winds near or exceeding hurricane force, with gusts of 100 mph (160 kph) possible.
The center said parts of Mississippi including Jackson and Hattiesburg and areas of Alabama including Birmingham and Tuscaloosa would be at a high risk. Severe storms and tornadoes were also possible across eastern Louisiana, western Georgia, central Tennessee and the western Florida Panhandle.
Wildfires break out amid dry, gusty conditions
Apart from Oklahoma, wildfires elsewhere in the Southern Plains threatened to spread rapidly amid warm, dry weather and strong winds in Texas, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico.
A blaze in Roberts County, Texas, northeast of Amarillo, quickly blew up from less than a square mile (about 2 square kilometers) to an estimated 32.8 square miles (85 square kilometers), the Texas A&M University Forest Service said on X. Crews stopped its advance by Friday evening.
About 60 miles (90 kilometers) to the south, another fire grew to about 3.9 square miles (10 square kilometers) before its advance was halted in the afternoon.
High winds also knocked out power to more than 260,000 homes and businesses in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, according the website poweroutage.us.
Blizzard warnings in Northern Plains
The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of far western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota starting early Saturday. Snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15.2 centimeters) were expected, with up to a foot (30 centimeters) possible.
Winds gusting to 60 mph (97 kph) were expected to cause whiteout conditions.
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Shipkowski reported from Toms River, New Jersey. Walker reported from New York. Reynolds contributed from Louisville, Kentucky.
Bruce Shipkowski, Julie Walker And Rebecca Reynolds, The Associated Press
