Severe tornado-spawning storms tore through the south-central United States overnight Saturday, killing at least 15 people.
The storms left a trail of devastation in parts of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, damaging hundreds of buildings and homes. President Biden said in a statement that he and first lady Jill Biden were “praying for those who tragically lost their lives."
At least seven people were killed in Texas, including a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) told reporters Sunday. He said about 100 people were injured and more than 200 “homes and structures” were destroyed.
“The hopes and dreams of Texas families and small businesses have literally been crushed by storm after storm,” Abbott said.
Sheriff Ray Sappington, of Cooke County, Tex. — just across the border with Oklahoma — said an adult and two children were found dead inside a home that had blown apart. Two other people were swept up and found in pastures, Sappington said.
In the city of Valley View, about 125 people took refuge inside a truck stop Saturday before the storm tore apart the building, Cooke County Emergency Management Coordinator Ray Fletcher said at the news conference. Video posted on social media appeared to show travelers huddling and screaming as strong winds blow through the building, sending debris flying and knocking over aisles of merchandise.
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Ten to 15 people at the truck stop had minor injuries, but no one there was killed, Sappington said.
Agencies from throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex came to help rural Cooke County, home to about 45,000 people.
“We are recovering the deceased,” Sappington said, “but as with most small communities and small towns, people pull together.”
Denton County spokeswoman Dawn Cobb said workers were assessing the storm damage late Sunday morning and following its path through the rural area, so the total numbers of injuries and possible deaths in the county were unclear. Based on preliminary reports, she said she estimated fewer than 25 people were hurt.
Crews were setting up portable bathrooms and hand-washing stations for those who had lost their homes, Cobb said. Workers were also rushing water to the area; by evening it was 97 degrees with 37 percent humidity.
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At least five deaths were reported in northern Arkansas, officials said: two in Marion County and one each in Benton, Baxter and Boone counties.
Benton County officials said the area experienced a significant weather event, “including probably tornadoes.”
The roof of the courthouse appeared to have been “picked up, folded in half and peeled over” from heavy winds, County Judge Barry Moehring said. Responders had spent most of the day clearing roads of fallen trees.
“It almost looks like a bowling ball went through a forest,” Moehring said.
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said there were two fatalities in the city of Pryor as a result of the overnight storms.
In Louisville a man died after being struck by a tree as a result of storms there, according to the city’s police department.
What produced Saturday’s tornadoes
On Saturday night, “large and extremely dangerous” tornadoes tore across the Plains and Ozarks after dark. The low-level jet stream — a river of swift southerly winds about a mile above the ground — intensified around 8 p.m., contributing to greater shear, or changing winds with height. That meant any storms left would be prone to rotate more fiercely, increasing the tornado threat.
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By then, most of the storms had already moved east of Interstate 35 in Oklahoma and Kansas. But as of 9 p.m., a few discrete, isolated cells had taken on rotating supercell characteristics. One cell was present in North Texas; one near Ardmore, Okla.; one in northeastern Oklahoma; and one east of Wichita.
The southernmost supercell produced a tornado that crossed I-35 in Valley View, midway between Dallas and the Oklahoma border, around 10:38 p.m. Central time. The storm rapidly intensified in the final 20 minutes before producing the tornado, with a plume of warm, moist air exploding upward and doubling the size of the storm’s anvil cloud.
At 10:51 p.m., meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Tulsa were tracking another severe thunderstorm and issued a tornado warning for the city of Claremore, Okla. The tornado hit about a half-hour later.
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Decatur, Ark., was hit by another tornado from that same parent supercell thunderstorm. A warning was issued at 12:42 a.m., and the tornado hit around 1:15 a.m. The National Weather Service once again saw debris on radar and described it as “a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado.”
The risk for more storms and tornadoes Sunday
More severe storms could arrive Sunday. A Level 3 out of 5 enhanced risk of severe weather covers a broad swath of the Midwest and the Tennessee Valley, and includes Indianapolis; Cincinnati; Nashville; Bowling Green, Ky.; and Louisville.
Storms were ongoing across northern Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky midmorning, with widespread strong to damaging winds and a few tornadoes. A few more storms are expected through the afternoon before a line of severe thunderstorms arrives with more wind and a tornado threat during the evening.
A Level 2 out of 5 severe weather risk extends from Chicago to the Carolina Piedmont to the northern portion of the Deep South, and encompasses Chattanooga, Tenn.; Huntsville, Ala.; Memphis; and Little Rock.
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