In the south-central region, severe weather such as storms and tornadoes are causing large-scale damage one after another. The Associated Press reported on the 26th that at least 15 people died due to strong storms and tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky.
CNN reported that as of this day, about 110 million people in central Mississippi, Ohio, and the Tennessee River Valley are under threat of severe weather such as strong winds and hail. The day before, in Cook County, Texas, near the border with Oklahoma, a strong tornado passed through a rural area with a mobile home complex, killing seven people. Among the dead were two children, ages 2 and 5.
“There are only traces of debris left (in the area),” Cook County Sheriff Ray Sappington said. “The damage is very serious.” In Denton County, north of Dallas, Texas, a tornado also caused multiple injuries, and disaster authorities transported them to nearby hospitals by ambulance and helicopter, but it is not known how many were injured.
The tornado that swept through the area overturned a tractor-trailer and halted traffic on Interstate 35. At least 60 to 80 people were staying at a truck gas station along the highway when the storm hit, but fortunately none of them were seriously injured. Several homes were destroyed and at least five people, including a 26-year-old woman, were killed in a small town in Boone County, Arkansas, and one person was killed, and several others were injured in Benton County, Arkansas.
Two people also died in the overnight storm in Pryor City, Mayes County, Oklahoma. In Claremore City, about 27km away from Prior City, 23 people were injured, including 3 seriously. Among the guests who attended the outdoor wedding, some suffered misfortune.
According to an initial investigation by the National Weather Service (NWS) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a tornado with an intensity of ‘EF-2’ or higher passed through the Claremore area overnight. On this day, strong winds blew in Louisville, Kentucky, and a tree fell, killing an adult male. Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared a disaster emergency in four additional counties that were damaged by tornadoes on this day. However, according to the Consulate General in Houston, which has jurisdiction over Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and the Dallas branch office, which has jurisdiction over parts of northern Texas, no cases of damage to Koreans or compatriots have been reported as of today in relation to this tornado and strong winds. It was confirmed that there was no significant damage from strong winds in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas of Texas, where Koreans mainly live.
The areas where damage occurred are places where few Koreans live. The air mass that causes severe weather such as storms is moving east on this day, affecting Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Virginia. The game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, scheduled to be held at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri at 7:10 pm (ET) on this day, was postponed due to a storm warning. In Indianapolis, the famous car race ‘Indy 500’, which was scheduled to start at 12:45 pm on this day, was postponed due to the risk of thunder and lightning but started about 4 hours later. According to Power Outage, a site that compiles power outages in the U.S., as of 7 p.m. that day, about 540,000 households (including commercial facilities) were without electricity due to strong winds damaging power facilities in a wide area, including parts of the central and eastern parts of the country.
The scale of power outages by region is 177,000 households in Kentucky, 82,000 households in Arkansas, 82,000 households in Missouri, 29,000 households in Texas, 24,000 households in Tennessee, 17,000 households in Kansas, and 6,000 households in Indiana., 5,000 households in Oklahoma, 74,000 households in West Virginia, and 40,000 households in Virginia.
In the south-central region of the United States, deadly severe weather has continued from last month to this month. Last April was recorded as the second-most tornado month in history in the United States. Additionally, on the 16th of this month, seven people were killed in an accident caused by a tornado and strong winds in northwest Houston, and at least five people were killed, and dozens injured by a tornado in Iowa on the 21st of this month. “The persistent weather pattern of warm, moist air is the main driver of the string of tornadoes over the past two months,” said Harold Brooks, senior research scientist at the National Storm Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma.
Brooks recommended that travelers passing through weather risk areas during the holidays leading up to Memorial Day on the 27th need to have a plan in case of an emergency.