At least nine dead in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after storms in the region

Strong winds associated with the morning’s severe weather overturned this semi-truck on Interstate 280 west of Davenport, Iowa, Friday, May 24, 2024. Multiple tornadoes were reported Friday in Iowa and Illinois as storms downed power lines and trees shortly after a deadly tornado devastated a small town. (Roy Dabner/Quad City Times via AP)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Violent storms killed at least nine people and left a wide trail of destruction in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas on Sunday, destroying homes and a rest area where drivers sought shelter during the latest deadly storms to hit the central United States.

Five of the fatalities were in Texas, near the Oklahoma border, where a tornado swept through a rural area near a trailer park on Saturday evening, authorities said. Storms also caused damage in Oklahoma, where guests at an outdoor wedding were injured. Tens of thousands of residents across the region were without power.

“All that’s left is a trail of rubble. The devastation is pretty bad,” Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington told the Associated Press.

Officials said several people were taken by ambulance and helicopter to hospitals in Denton County, Texas, but the exact extent of injuries was not yet known. Sappington said the dead in Texas included three family members who were found in a home near the small community of Valley View.

In Arkansas, at least two people were reportedly killed, including a 26-year-old woman who was found dead outside a destroyed home in Olvey, a small community in Boone County, according to Daniel Bolen of the county’s emergency management office.

Another person died in Benton County, Arkansas. Melody Kwok, communications director for the county, said several other people were injured and emergency crews were continuing to respond to calls.

“We are currently still busy with search and rescue,” she said. “The situation is very tense.”

Authorities also confirmed two deaths in Mayes County, Oklahoma. Further details on the deaths were not immediately available, said Mike Dunham, deputy director of emergency management for the county.

The destruction continued a grim month of deadly storms in the center of the country.

Tornadoes in Iowa this week killed at least five people and injured dozens. The deadly twisters came during a historically bad tornado season, at a time when climate change is increasing the severity of storms around the world. April saw the second-highest number of tornadoes in the U.S. on record.

In Texas, a tornado hit Denton County, north of Dallas, overturning semi-trailers and bringing traffic to a standstill on Interstate 35, said county spokeswoman Dawn Cobb. An emergency shelter was set up in the rural town of Sanger.

Sappington said at least 60 to 80 people were in a rest stop along the highway, some of them seeking shelter as the storm swept through; however, there were no serious injuries.

As day broke, the full extent of the devastation became clear. Aerial photographs showed dozens of destroyed houses, many without roofs and others in ruins.

When residents woke up, they saw overturned cars and collapsed garages. Some residents walked back and forth, sifting through scraps of wood and assessing the damage. Nearby, neighbors sat on the foundation of a destroyed house.

At the height of the storms, more than 24,000 homes and businesses in Oklahoma were without power, according to the state Emergency Management Agency. The agency also reported extensive damage from baseball-sized hail and numerous injuries at an outdoor wedding taking place in rural Woods County.

Meteorologists and authorities issued urgent warnings to seek shelter as the storms moved through the region overnight. “If you are in the path of this storm, seek shelter immediately!” the National Weather Service office in Norman posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In Texas, the Denton Fire Department posted on social media that rescue crews were en route to a marina near Dallas “with multiple victims, some of whom are reported to be trapped.” Inaccessible roads and downed power lines in Oklahoma also prompted officials in the city of Claremore, near Tulsa, to announce on social media that the city was on “lockdown” due to the damage.

April and May were a tornado-filled month, particularly in the Midwest. Iowa was hit hard last week when a deadly tornado devastated Greenfield. Other storms brought flooding and storm damage to other parts of the state.

The system that caused the recent severe weather is expected to move east over the Memorial Day weekend, bringing with it rain that could delay the Indianapolis 500 auto race in Indiana on Sunday, as well as other severe storms in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky.

Meteorologists expect the threat of severe weather to move to North Carolina and Virginia on Monday.

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Tareen reported from Chicago and McCormack from Concord, NH