Severe thunderstorms and high winds over the weekend killed at least five people, including an infant, in Oklahoma and Iowa, and a series of tornadoes ripped through the Great Plains, US media reported.
As thunderstorms moved east on Sunday, more than four million people in five states – Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas – were under a tornado watch, meaning tornadoes are possible over the next few hours. There is also a threat of wind damage and large hail, according to the Storm Prediction Centre.
Tornadoes hit parts of Iowa on Friday and Oklahoma on Saturday. The towns of Sulphur, Holdenville and Ardmore, Oklahoma, were especially hard hit, according to the National Weather Service.
A man died Saturday in Minden, Iowa, after sustaining injuries from the storm, Craig Carlsen, a Pottawattamie County spokesman, said by phone Sunday.
Keli Kane, communications director for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said Sunday that the state medical examiner confirmed two hurricane-related fatalities in Holdenville and another on Highway 34, near Marietta.
At a news conference Sunday, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said a fourth person had died in Sulphur. At least 100 others were injured across the state, according to the department. As local authorities coordinated search and rescue efforts, shelters and emergency kitchens were opened to house and feed displaced people. The dead in Holdenville include a man and an infant girl, Hughes County Emergency Medical Services said on Sunday.
At least 16 homes in Oklahoma were destroyed, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a briefing on Sunday morning.
Mr. Stitt declared a state of emergency in 12 counties on Sunday and travelled to Sulphur. He described the scene there as “just devastating,” adding that it seemed as though every downtown business had been destroyed. He said early reports suggested that a powerful tornado “was kind of blowing right through downtown here and I just haven’t seen this much destruction from my time as governor.”
Video and photos from KOCO News TV show businesses and cars in downtown Sulphur damaged or blown away by flying debris.
The severe weather came a day after tornadoes swept through parts of Nebraska and Iowa and destroyed dozens of homes.
In Iowa, 270 homes and several structures were damaged or destroyed in Pottawattamie County and about 25 homes were damaged or destroyed in Shelby County, according to FEMA.
About 30 tornadoes were reported across the region between noon Saturday and early Sunday, including several Saturday night in Kansas, Missouri and Texas, according to the weather service.
